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# Microscopic Scenario for Striped Superconductors

## 1 Introduction and Scenario

Few recent problems in science have generated so many controversial discussions as the problem of high temperature superconductivity since its experimental discovery in 1986. Two fundamental questions are: Is the superconducting state found in high-$`T_c`$ cuprates homogeneous? Is the superfluid density in these materials homogeneous? The standard approach consists in accepting a homogeneous superconducting state of various forms. We assert that this state is in fact “inhomogeneous.” In this work we summarize  and expand on a new scenario for striped superconductors where the interplay between inhomogeneous superfluid density and phase fluctuations determines the critical temperature.

In their undoped state, cuprates behave as antiferromagnetic (AF) Mott insulators and it is precisely upon doping with holes that these strongly correlated materials become superconductors. Recent experiments seem to indicate that inhomogeneously textured (intrinsically nanoscale) phases characterize the quantum state of high temperature superconductors. This is, probably, not surprising in retrospect since these are complex materials with competing time and length scales arising from different interactions. A relevant and non-trivial question is, however, whether those textures are essential to drive the phase coherent state, i.e., a Meissner phase.

Neutron scattering experiments have proven to be a very useful tool in investigating magnetic and superconducting properties of high-$`T_c`$ cuprate oxides. With improved sample quality and resolution there is reliable evidence for an incommensurate structure in the spin susceptibility. On the other hand, recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) data suggest a one-dimensional (1D) like electronic structure consistent with clustering of charge carriers into 1D channels . Therefore, although the orientation, width, length and dynamics of the channels remains to be elucidated, both the above classes of experiments appear to confirm a new paradigm of spin and charge ordering in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors: the “stripe” phase.

Motivated by this new paradigm we introduced  a class of inhomogeneous microscopic models which capture the magnetic and superconducting properties of these strongly correlated materials. The origin(s) of the mesoscopic skeleton of stripe segments in the CuO2 planes is presently unclear and several mechanisms could be responsible, such as local spin-orbit coupling, Jahn-Teller distortions, oxygen buckling at the stripe, and/or other magnetoelastic effects. (Local charge-lattice coupling may be an important source of texture formation.) We showed, in particular, that appropriate inhomogeneous interactions that break magnetic symmetries are distinctive in inducing substantial pair binding of holes, as well as explaining the magnetic neutron scattering properties. Moreover, based upon the phenomenology of our microscopic model we developed a mean-field (“Josephson spaghetti”) model which provides a scenario for the macroscopic superconducting state. We also discussed the connection of the resulting inhomogeneity-induced superconductivity to recent experimental evidence for a linear relation between magnetic incommensurability and the superconducting transition temperature, as a function of doping. In a different work  we studied the spectral properties of these inhomogeneous models and found, consistent with experiments , a flat band and the correct distribution of quasiparticle weights.

In previous work  we have assumed static magnetic inhomogeneities. Certainly, the stripe segments in real materials are likely to have an intrinsic dynamics on a characteristic time scale $`\tau `$. We assume that this time is large enough for attractive forces to produce bound states of two holes. On the other hand, this stripe dynamics will probably restore the $`SU(2)`$ spin rotation invariance on time scales greater than $`\tau `$. $`SU(2)`$ symmetry does not have to be broken statically. In the present manuscript we also discuss an alternative approach where the magnetic inhomogeneities follow the hole, i.e., the stripe phase is dynamically generated by the holes. This model we call the selfconsistent perturbing hole (SPH) model since the hole itself carries the perturbation. The main qualitative difference between both classes of models is the absence of a broken lattice translational symmetry state in the SPH case. Otherwise, the basic phenomenology is qualitatively the same: Holes pair in stripes as a consequence of the existence of an AF background (avoiding a possible global phase separation). The pairing mechanism is kinetic exchange-interaction based and is provided by magnetic inhomogeneities that locally break spin-rotational invariance. In the superfluid phase, it is argued that a phase-locked state is generated as a consequence of a coherent Josephson tunneling of the hole pairs between and along stripes .

## 2 Microscopic Inhomogeneous Models

In this Section we will present two classes of inhomogeneous models. The first model was already introduced in Ref. , where the basic microscopic scenario starts from a homogeneous $`t`$-$`J`$ Hamiltonian as background

$$H_{tJ}=t\underset{𝐫,\overline{𝐫},\sigma }{}c_{𝐫\sigma }^{}c_{\overline{𝐫}\sigma }^{}+J\underset{𝐫,\overline{𝐫}}{}(𝐒_𝐫𝐒_{\overline{𝐫}}\frac{1}{4}\overline{n}_𝐫\overline{n}_{\overline{𝐫}})$$
(1)
but, to mimic the stripe segments, we add inhomogeneous magnetic interactions. These inhomogeneous terms break translational invariance and spin-rotational $`SU(2)`$ symmetry locally:

$$H_{\mathrm{inh}}=\underset{\alpha ,\beta }{}\delta J_zS_\alpha ^zS_\beta ^z+\frac{\delta J_{}}{2}\left(S_\alpha ^+S_\beta ^{}+S_\alpha ^{}S_\beta ^+\right)$$

with $`\delta J_{}\delta J_z`$, representing the magnetic perturbation of a static local Ising anisotropy, locally lowering spin symmetry (named a $`t`$-$`JJ_z`$ model). Only a few links (where the stripes are located) have this lowered spin symmetry. This Ising anisotropy is also sufficient to produce a spin gap.

Pair binding of holes in this class of models is substantial . This substantial binding energy is achieved as the energy for two holes falls much faster with $`t`$ than twice the energy of one hole.

It is interesting to make the following remarks: Suppose that a stripe segment is represented by the 1D $`t`$-$`J_z`$ model

$$H=t\underset{\alpha ,\sigma }{}(c_{\alpha \sigma }^{}c_{\alpha +1\sigma }^{}+\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}.)+J_z\underset{\alpha }{}S_\alpha ^zS_{\alpha +1}^z.$$
(2)
One can show  that, within the ground state subspace (for a given number of holes), this Hamiltonian maps into the attractive spinless fermion model

$$H=t\underset{\alpha }{}(b_\alpha ^{}b_{\alpha +1}^{}+\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}.)\frac{J_z}{4}\underset{\alpha }{}\stackrel{~}{n}_\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{n}_{\alpha +1}$$
(3)
where $`\stackrel{~}{n}_\alpha =b_\alpha ^{}b_\alpha ^{}`$, and which certainly has a superconducting phase (i.e., correlation exponent $`K_\rho >1`$) . In this particular model, it turns out that (e.g., at half-filling for $`|J_z/8t|<1`$) the isolated stripe segment belongs to the Luttinger liquid universality class. Notice, however, that our stripes are embedded in an AF background. This background provides a strong boundary condition that results in an additional attractive potential for the holes in the stripe. As a result, an enhanced superconducting region is expected , avoiding alternative charge density wave phases or phase segregation.

Knowing that perturbating the system by breaking magnetic symmetries is an efficient mechanism to achieve substantial binding of carriers, some natural questions arise: What would happen if the hole itself carries this perturbation? Would this process be sufficient to generate a stripe phase? Would the binding energy be still appreciable in the thermodynamic limit?

Our SPH model corresponds to the Hamiltonian $`H=H_{tJ}+H_{\mathrm{sph}}`$, where

$$H_{\mathrm{sph}}=\underset{𝐫,𝐝}{}\frac{\delta J_{}}{2}(1\overline{n}_𝐫)\left(S_𝐫^+S_{𝐫+𝐝}^{}+S_𝐫^{}S_{𝐫+𝐝}^+\right).$$
(4)
In this Hamiltonian $`1\overline{n}_𝐫=n_𝐫`$ is the ocupation number of holes at site $`𝐫`$ and $`S_𝐫^+`$, $`S_𝐫^{}`$ are the usual spin operators . The presence of a hole at site $`𝐫`$ perturbs the magnetic links in the directions defined by $`𝐝`$ by lowering the spin symmetry and making them more Ising-like.

This model is perhaps more natural on physical grounds than the $`t`$-$`JJ_z`$ one. Magnetoelastic effects caused by the presence of the hole, or buckling of the oxygens close to the carrier may easily produce an Ising-like anisotropy. Upon doping with holes it is not obvious what the extra hole does to the environment. Since these are strongly correlated materials, the extra holes could have a stronger influence on the system than just those effects produced by simple hopping dynamics.

The models considered above are different in some respects. While in the model of Eqs. 1,2 translational symmetry has been explicitly broken (i.e., adding $`H_{\mathrm{inh}}`$) the model defined by $`H_{\mathrm{sph}}`$ is translationally symmetric, and the only symmetry that has been explicitly broken is the spin $`SU(2)`$ symmetry around each hole. This fact has some direct experimental consequences. As already discussed in Ref. , the $`t`$-$`JJ_z`$ model has an inhomogeneous hole density, as they prefer to occupy sites where the magnetic links have been weakened (the stripes). This is not the case for the SPH model since, as the translational symmetry has not been broken, the holes will be found with equal probability on every lattice site. This fundamental difference could be resolved by a Scanning Tunneling Microscope experiment.

In this work we will not address the issue of stripe formation in the SPH model, but rather concentrate on the hole pairing in those textures. Clearly there will be a competition between kinetic and magnetic energies. While the first will try to delocalize the pair, the former will contribute to the pairing. In Fig. 1 we show the binding energy (defined as $`E_b=E_2+E_02E_1`$, where $`E_i`$ is the ground state energy in the subspace with $`i`$ holes) as a function of $`1/N`$ (where $`N`$ is the size of the system). $`t`$-$`J`$ models in 1D (diamonds) and 2D (triangles) have zero or negligible binding in the extrapolated thermodynamic limit. The model labeled as $`t`$-$`JJ_z`$ corresponding to the Hamiltonian of Eqs. 1 ,2 in 1D has substantial binding in the thermodynamic limit.

That model corresponds to placing a perturbation like Eq. 2 every 4 sites. The model labeled as $`t`$-$`J`$ \+ $`H_{\mathrm{sph}}`$ is the one we are mostly interested in this work. It has appreciable binding of holes in the thermodynamic limit, although not as strong as in the $`t`$-$`JJ_z`$ model. In the calculations we have taken $`|𝐝|=2`$ (i.e., the hole perturbs up to second neighbors). For $`|𝐝|=1`$ the model reduces trivially to the $`t`$-$`J`$ model, as the links close to the holes are magnetically inactive. Therefore $`|𝐝|=d`$ must be greater or equal to 2 to show any new behavior. In order to get information about the bound state we have calculated the correlation function $`n_0n_i`$, which gives the probability of finding a hole at site $`i`$ if there is one at site $`0`$. We remark again that the density of holes is constant and equal to $`n_i=N_h/N`$ (with $`N_h`$ the number of holes and $`N`$ the size of the system) for every site $`i`$ in the case of $`t`$-$`J`$ \+ $`H_{\mathrm{sph}}`$. In Fig. 2, upper panel we show this correlation function for the cases $`d=2`$ and $`d=3`$ when there are two holes in a 16 sites chain. As expected, the pair is more strongly bound for $`d=3`$. In a real material there must be a decreasing function of the perturbation carried by the hole with distance. In our case that perturbation is constant. In Fig. 2 lower panel, we show the same correlation function for $`d=2`$ and different $`t`$ values. The pair evolves from being tightly bound to delocalization as the kinetic energy is increased. It is worth noting that even when the holes are not very close the binding energy scales to a finite value.

We are grateful to C.D. Batista for useful discussions. This work has been supported by the US DOE.


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# WHY ARE ROTATING ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES LESS ELLIPTICAL AT X-RAY FREQUENCIES?

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Cooling flows in massive elliptical galaxies are expected to rotate since most of the interstellar gas within an optical effective radius $`R_e`$ is produced by mass loss from the slowly rotating stellar systems. If the cooling flow proceeds inward conserving angular momentum, the interstellar gas ultimately flows toward a large disk (Rdisk
>Re
>subscript𝑅𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑘subscript𝑅𝑒R_{disk}\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}R_{e}) and spins up to the local equatorial circular velocity, $`400`$ km s-1 (Kley & Mathews 1995; Brighenti & Mathews 1996, subsequently referred to as Paper I). As interstellar gas approaches the disk, the X-ray images are significantly flattened toward the equatorial plane on scales $`R_e3R_e`$ when viewed perpendicular to the axis of rotation. For bright elliptical galaxies at distance 17 Mpc in the Virgo cluster – NGC 4472, NGC 4636, and NGC 4649 – $`R_e7\mathrm{kpc}1.4`$’. However, Einstein X-ray images show no evidence of rotational flattening either at the resolution of the IPC ($`55^{\prime \prime }4.5`$ kpc; Trinchieri et al. 1986) or at the much higher resolution or HRI ($`6^{\prime \prime }0.49`$ kpc; Fabbiano, Kim & Trinchieri 1992). In a series of papers Buote & Canizares have detected large scale X-ray flattening in several massive elliptical galaxies which they attribute to a flattened dark matter potential, but the highly flattened inner isophotes anticipated from momentum-conserving cooling flows were not evident (see Buote & Canizares 1998 for a review). More recently, Hanlan & Bregman (1999) have found little or no rotationally enhanced X-ray ellipticity in ROSAT HRI and PSPC images of several bright elliptical galaxies. The implications of these observations are not widely appreciated among the community of astronomers interested in early type galaxies.

Massive, X-ray luminous elliptical galaxies have two principal sources of hot interstellar gas: (1) ejection of stellar envelopes from an evolving population of old stars and (2) inflow of distant circumgalactic gas which accumulates in the galactic halo either by tidal exchange or secondary infall (Brighenti & Mathews 1999a). If the circumgalactic gas has a lower specific angular momentum than the stars, the X-ray flattening would be lessened as inflowing circumgalactic gas mixes with gas lost from the rotating stellar system within several $`R_e`$. But it is unlikely that X-ray disks can be eliminated by this means since most of the gas in the inner galaxy is produced by stellar mass loss and has not flowed in from the galactic halo region. Our recent models for the large elliptical galaxy NGC 4472 require that at least 60 - 70 percent of the hot gas in r
<Re
<𝑟subscript𝑅𝑒r\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}R_{e} originates from stellar mass loss. This rate of stellar mass ejection is expected from normal stellar evolution and is required to explain the radial variation of interstellar temperature and metallicity typically observed in massive elliptical galaxies (Brighenti & Mathews 1999a). In addition, it is unlikely that the absence of observed X-ray flattening can be understood simply by the inflow of halo gas into the optical centers of elliptical galaxies since it is plausible that the extended halo gas has an even larger specific angular momentum than the stars. N-body simulations of galaxy formation typically produce elliptical galaxies and galaxy groups with increasing specific angular momentum at large radii (e.g. Barnes & Efstathiou 1987; Quinn & Zureck 1988). But the intrinsic angular momentum in distant halo gas is uncertain; gas acquired by tidal disruption is expected to have significant rotation, but secondary infalling gas that arrives after most mergers have occurred may have less net rotation than the stellar system.

However, there is no doubt that the stellar systems in most large elliptical galaxies and the gas that they expel are rotating. Although the stellar systems in luminous elliptical galaxies (with LB
>3×1010
>subscript𝐿𝐵3superscript1010L_{B}\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}3\times 10^{10} $`L_{B,}`$) are not flattened by rotation, their rotation about the minor axis is not small, typically 50 - 100 km s-1 (e.g. Binney, Davies, & Illingworth 1990), and the gas they expel must spin up further as it moves inward.

These general considerations indicate that the net angular momentum of gas ejected from stars must be removed to circularize the X-ray images. This can be accomplished either by removing gas from the flow or by transporting angular momentum away from the axis of rotation by viscous interactions. In this paper we explore the importance of these two processes and determine their relative influence on the X-ray images. The first process, localized dropout cooling of interstellar gas in regions of low specific entropy, is also required to limit the masses of central black holes (or dark stellar nuclei) in elliptical galaxies to their observed values. Central black holes would be about ten times more massive if the cooling flow proceeded all the way to the galactic center with constant mass flux (Brighenti & Mathews 1999b). The presence of distributed optical emission lines from cooling gas also argues for cooling dropout (Mathews & Brighenti 1999a). However, as we show below, the strongest argument for the presence of localized mass dropout in the interstellar gas may be the circularization of X-ray images that results.

We also explore the possibility that interstellar viscosity transports angular momentum outward, reducing the rotation and X-ray flattening in the inner galaxy. An effective viscosity can arise from several natural sources: plasma viscosity, interstellar “turbulent” viscosity driven by stellar mass loss or Type Ia supernovae, the viscosity implicit in regions of localized interstellar cooling as they sink in the galactic potential, and turbulent viscosity that may develop from shear instabilities in the flow. On several occasions Nulsen and Fabian have suggested that the turbulent viscosity is so large that the entire interstellar medium becomes approximately spherical (Nulsen, Stewart, & Fabian 1984; Nulsen & Fabian 1995), but no detailed calculations were provided to support this conjecture.

In the following section we describe rotating cooling flows in which angular momentum is lost by cooling dropout. Then we study the outward transport of angular momentum by turbulent viscosity and the associated diffusion of interstellar metallicity.

## 2 COOLING DROPOUT IN ROTATING COOLING FLOWS

In the earliest studies of non-rotating cooling flows, the interstellar gas was assumed to flow completely to the galactic center where, in the region of increasing gas density, it cooled by intense radiative losses. The notion that the hot interstellar gas in cooling flows cools not just at the centers of elliptical galaxies but throughout the galactic volume was first advanced by Fabian, Nulsen & Canizares (1982) and Thomas (1986). This distributed cooling was introduced to avoid the strong central peaking of the X-ray surface brightness $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x`$ that occurred in centrally-cooling models but not in the galaxies observed. Our recent studies indicate that the effect of volumetric cooling on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x`$ is more complicated. Although $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x`$ is globally reduced if the gas cools before it has flowed through the entire potential of the galaxy, this reduction is generally rather modest. However, in localized regions of intense cooling dropout $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x`$ actually increases because of the enhanced density and emission associated with cooling regions; if cooling dropout is restricted to a small but finite central region, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x`$ can deviate even further from observed profiles.

Notwithstanding these contrary results, the evidence for spatially distributed cooling of interstellar gas is apparent in other observations. The dynamically determined masses of central black holes (Magorrian et al. 1998) are typically much less than the masses of interstellar gas that have cooled over a Hubble time, typically several $`10^{10}`$ $`M_{}`$ in massive elliptical galaxies (Brighenti & Mathews 1999b). The cooled mass is also far larger than the masses of cold HI or H2 gas observed in luminous elliptical galaxies (e.g., Bregman, Roberts & Giovanelli 1988; Braine, Henkel & Wiklind 1997), indirectly indicating that stars have formed in the cooled gas. However, if the stars produced from cooled gas within $`R_e`$ are optically dark (e.g., brown dwarfs), the thinness of the fundamental plane is difficult to understand (Mathews & Brighenti 1999b). This suggests that the young, low-mass stars that form are optically luminous, which is also consistent with H$`\beta `$ indices observed in the stellar spectra in some luminous elliptical galaxies (Gonzalez 1993; Faber et al. 1995; Trager 1997; Trager et al. 1998; Mathews & Brighenti 1999c). Another indication of distributed interstellar cooling is the extended optical line emission observed in in the central regions of most or all bright elliptical galaxies (e.g., Macchetto et al. 1996). We have argued that this gas with temperature $`10^4`$ K is cooled interstellar gas ionized by stellar UV (Mathews & Brighenti 1999a).

In the absence of spatially distributed mass dropout or angular momentum redistribution, all the cooled gas in rotating cooling flows is ultimately deposited in a large disk (Paper I; Brighenti & Mathews 1997). Because the gas density and radiative emissivity increase as the cooling flow approaches the disk, the X-ray images in these cooling flow models are highly flattened unless the galaxy is viewed along the axis of rotation. In the following discussion we show that spatially distributed mass dropout can sharply reduce, but not eliminate, the rotational flattening of X-ray images. As a result, the approximate circular shapes of observed X-ray images may be the most convincing evidence for the existence of cooling dropout. We begin by briefly discussing the gravitational potential and stellar dynamics in a simple rotating elliptical galaxy; this is followed with a description of a gas-dynamical model including the cooling dropout process.

### 2.1 Model of a Rotating Galaxy

For comparison with our earlier models of rotating elliptical galaxies and for mathematical simplicity, we adopt here the same E2 model galaxy described in detail in Paper I. The ellipsoidal mass distributions for stars and dark matter in this galaxy are assumed to have King and pseudo-isothermal profiles respectively:

$$\rho _{}(R,z)=\rho _o[1+(R/R_c)^2+(z/z_c)^2]^{3/2}$$

$$\rho _h(R,z)=\rho _{oh}[1+(R/R_{ch})^2+(z/z_{ch})^2]^1.$$

Both distributions are truncated at the same large ellipsoidal boundary defined by $`R_t`$ and $`z_t=R_t(1e^2)^{1/2}`$. The eccentricity of an E2 galaxy ($`n=2`$) is $`e=[1(1n/10)^2]^{1/2}=0.6`$. Scale parameters $`R_c`$ and $`R_{ch}`$ for the E2 elliptical can be derived from a standard spherical E0 galaxy having the same central densities $`\rho _o`$ and $`\rho _{oh}`$ by expanding the characteristic core radii $`R_c^{(s)}`$ for the spherical galaxy in the $`R`$-direction, $`R_c=R_c^{(s)}(10.1n)^{1/3}`$. The physical properties of the fiducial non-rotating E0 galaxy are listed in Table 1. Values of $`R_e`$, $`L_B`$ and $`\sigma _{}`$ have been chosen so that the E0 galaxy lies on the fundamental plane. The total mass of dark matter $`M_{ht}`$ is nine times that of the stellar component, $`M_t`$.

As described in Paper I, we solve the two-dimensional Jeans equation to derive the velocity dispersion in the meridional plane, $`\sigma ^2(R,z)=\sigma _R^2=\sigma _z^2`$. Following Satoh (1980), we decompose the mean square azimuthal speed into a random dispersion $`\sigma _\varphi ^2`$ and a systematic rotation $`\overline{v_\varphi }^2`$ using a single parameter $`k`$ assumed to be constant,

$$\sigma _\varphi ^2\overline{v_\varphi ^2}\overline{v_\varphi }^2=k^2\sigma ^2+(1k^2)\overline{v_\varphi ^2}.$$

When $`k=1`$ the stellar velocity dispersion is isotropic and the ellipsoidal distortion is produced entirely by rotation; when $`k=0`$ there is no net rotation and the ellipsoidal flattening is produced entirely by anisotropic velocity dispersion, $`\sigma _\varphi ^2>\sigma ^2`$. For a typical slowly rotating giant elliptical galaxy in which most (but not all) of the optical ellipticity is due to anisotropic orbits, we choose $`k=0.5`$ as in the “E2;0.25” model described in Paper I. From the Jeans equations we can determine a self consistent rotation for the stellar system, $`v_\varphi (R,z)`$, which is required for the gas dynamical equations. The total galactic potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }(R,z)`$, used in the gas dynamical equation of motion, can be derived from the density distributions above (see Paper I). The mean stellar temperature that appears in the gas dynamical equation for thermal energy is given by

$$T_{}(R,z)=\frac{\mu _mm_p}{3k_B}(2\sigma ^2+\sigma _\varphi ^2),$$

where $`\mu _m=0.62`$ is the mean molecular weight and $`m_p`$ is the proton mass.

### 2.2 Cooling Dropout

The physical origin of spatially localized interstellar cooling and mass dropout is a hypothetical ensemble of entropy fluctuations. For example, a small region in the cooling flow with low entropy (in pressure equilibrium with low $`T`$, high $`\rho `$) will radiate more efficiently and cool before the ambient flow reaches the galactic center or cooling disk. The entropy irregularities have complex origins – supernova explosions, stellar mass loss, galactic winds and other disturbances in the early universe, inhomogeneous magnetic fields, etc. – so it is not currently possible to derive them from first principles. However, by exploring the influence of a variety of assumed mass dropout profiles on the X-ray surface brightness and radial mass distributions in luminous elliptical galaxies, Brighenti & Mathews (1999b) confirmed that the following modification of the equation of continuity gives adequate results:

$$\frac{\rho }{t}+\rho 𝐯=\alpha _{}\rho _{}q\frac{\rho }{t_{do}}.$$

The negative term on the right hand side represents the disappearance of gas from the flow by cooling dropout. This sink term is proportional to the local gas density divided by the dropout time $`t_{do}=5m_pkT/2\mu _m\rho \mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the time for gas to radiatively cool locally at constant pressure. This kind of simple mass loss with $`q=1`$, similar to that used by Sarazin & Ashe (1989), was shown by Brighenti & Mathews (1999b) to be consistent with optical and X-ray observations of massive elliptical galaxies.

The first term on the right side of the equation of continuity above describes the source of new interstellar gas, which is proportional to the local stellar density and to

$$\alpha _{}(t)=\alpha _n[t/(t_nt_s)]^{1.3},$$

the specific mass loss from evolving stars. Here $`\alpha _n=4.7\times 10^{20}`$ s-1, $`t_n=13`$ Gyrs is the current cosmic time and $`t_s=1`$ Gyr is the time that the galactic stars are assumed to have formed (see Brighenti & Mathews 1999a for details). We are particularly interested in the flattening of X-ray images within $`R_e`$ from the centers of large ellipticals. In this central region most of the interstellar gas is produced by stellar mass loss, so we shall generally ignore additional gas flowing in from the galactic halo region beyond the optical galaxy.

Interstellar gas is heated and enriched by Type Ia supernovae which we assume occur at a rate SNu$`(t)=`$ SNu$`(t_n)(t_n/t)`$, where SNu$`(t_n)=0.03`$ SNIa per 100 yrs per $`10^{10}`$ $`L_B`$ (Cappellaro et al. 1997). The specific rate of mass injection into the cooling flow by Type Ia supernovae is $`\alpha _{sn}=\nu _{sn}m_{sn}/M_t`$ where $`\nu _{sn}=\mathrm{SNu}(t)(L_B/10^{10})/3.15\times 10^9`$ is the number of supernovae per second. The rate that gas is supplied to the interstellar medium by normal stellar mass loss greatly exceeds the mass input from supernovae, i.e., $`\alpha _{}\alpha _{sn}`$.

### 2.3 Rotating Cooling Flows with and without Dropout

Figures 1a and 1b illustrate the X-ray surface brightness $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x(R,z)`$ in the ROSAT band (0.1 – 2.4 keV) for the rotating elliptical at time $`t_n=13`$ Gyrs when viewed along the equatorial plane and at 60o inclination. As in Paper I, our 2D logarithmic computational grid extends beyond 100 kpc in both $`R`$ and $`z`$, but Figure 1 zooms in to show only the central $``$15 kpc region that is most relevant to published X-ray images. Figure 1a shows the extremely flattened X-ray appearance of the E2 galaxy when no distributed cooling dropout is present. This diagram is similar to Figure 12b of Paper I with several small differences due to the larger value of $`t_n`$ used in that paper and the slightly lower Type Ia supernova rate that we assume here. When the same rotating cooling flow is observed at 60o inclination, the bright X-ray emission associated with the outer disk is seen as a separate feature at $`5`$ kpc (Figure 1b). The current ROSAT band luminosity for this galaxy within the optical image is $`L_x=2.0\times 10^{40}`$ ergs s-1, about 5 times less than the non-rotating version of the same galaxy (Paper I). However, this $`L_x`$ must be regarded as an underestimate because our computational proceedure is inaccurate when most of the radiative cooling occurs in the central zone (Brighenti & Mathews 1999b).

Figures 1c and 1d show the same X-ray views of the rotating galaxy at $`t_n=13`$ Gyrs but now with cooling dropout ($`q=1`$) and with all other parameters identical to those in Figures 1a and 1b. The surface brightness $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x(R,z)`$ in Figures 1c and 1d includes the additional X-ray emission from the cooling regions, but the isophotal shapes are influenced very little by this contribution. It is immediately clear from Figure 1c that radiative dropout is a major explanation for the nearly circular appearance of observed X-ray images. Evidently, interstellar gas is cooling from the flow before it has progressed very far from its stellar origin toward the axis of rotation. However, the central X-ray bright core of the image is still noticeably flattened in Figure 1c with an X-ray ellipticity that is slightly greater than that of the E2 stellar image. (The optical isophotal contours would intersect the $`z`$-axis at 0.8 of the $`R`$-axis intersection.) This excess ellipticity of the X-ray image is not greatly diminished if the galaxy is viewed at an inclination $`i=60^o`$ (Figure 1d). The ROSAT luminosity for the $`q=1`$ model E2 galaxy at time 13 Gyrs is $`L_x=8.8\times 10^{40}`$ ergs s-1.

When there is no cooling dropout, $`q=0`$ as in Figure 1a, a large and massive disk of cold gas forms in the equatorial plane, rotating at the local circular velocity; such disks are described in detail in Paper I and in Brighenti & Mathews (1997). However, in the calculation with $`q=1`$ mass dropout by radiative losses as in Figure 1c, no disk of cold gas forms in the $`z=0`$ plane at least beyond $`150`$ pc, the size of our innermost computational grid zone. This failure to form a cold disk results from the increased radiative dropout rate as the density in the cooling flow increases toward the equatorial plane, $`(\rho /t)_{do}q\rho /t_{do}\rho ^2`$.

The azimuthal velocity distributions $`v_\varphi (R,z)`$ in the interstellar gas shown in Figures 2a and 2b correspond to the cooling flows imaged in Figures 1a and 1c respectively; interstellar rotation is significantly reduced in the presence of cooling dropout. Figure 2a shows the azimuthal velocity distribution at 13 Gyrs without radiative dropout. As described in Paper I, without dropout mass loss there is no loss of angular momentum and the slow inward velocity of the cooling flow leads to a dramatic spinup in angular velocity. In Figure 2a the gas is flowing toward a cool disk that extends to $`5`$ kpc. As interstellar gas converges toward the disk, its azimuthal velocity $`v_\varphi `$ approaches the local circular velocity, $`400`$ km s-1, as it cools and merges with the rotationally supported cooled disk.

With $`q=1`$ (Figure 2b) the rotational velocities are reduced by approximately 30 percent in the region shown within 15 kpc of the center. If the entire major axis (-5 to +5 kpc) were observed, the rotational broadening of X-ray emission lines would be $`400`$ km s-1, similar to the thermal width at the virial temperature, but resolution of such lines would be difficult or impossible even with the Chandra Observatory. For purposes of comparison with future high-resolution X-ray observations, we show in Figure 2c the emission-weighted line of sight velocity at every position for the $`q=1`$ calculation,

$$v_{los}(R,z)=\frac{n_en_p\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ROSAT}𝐯_\varphi 𝐧_s𝑑s}{n_en_p\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ROSAT}𝑑s}$$

where $`𝐧_s`$ is a unit vector along the line of sight represented with the $`s`$ coordinate. The contours in Figure 2b and 2c are rather similar due to the strong spatial gradient in electron density, but $`v_{los}(R,z)`$ is about 25 percent smaller than $`v_\varphi (R,z)`$ over most of the region plotted.

Since it is likely that the cooled gas forms into optically luminous stars (Mathews & Brighenti 1999b), it is of interest to compare in Figure 3 the local density of cooled (dropout) gas $`\rho _{do}(R,z)`$ for the $`q=1`$ solution with that of the old stars, $`\rho _{}(R,z)`$. Notice that the density distribution of cooled gas is considerably flatter than the E2 distribution of the old stellar population; the isodensity ellipticity of the gas just prior to dropout reflects rotational flattening in the galactic potential. The orbits of the young stellar population are expected to inhabit the same flattened volume as the interstellar dropout from which they formed, with stellar density contours similar to $`\rho _{do}(R,z)`$. For an optically luminous population of young stars formed from cooled gas, we predict from Figure 3 that the H$`\beta `$ equivalent width in the stellar spectrum (produced mostly by young stars) should exhibit a decidedly greater ellipticity than that of the bulk of the stellar light. In addition, since the interstellar gas in the cooling flow spins up before cooling, we expect that the young stellar population formed from mass dropout has a somewhat greater systemic rotation than that of the old stars.

For a larger dropout coefficient, $`q=4`$, the X-ray images are even more circular and the corresponding azimuthal velocity $`v_\varphi (R,z)`$ is lower than that of the $`q=1`$ solution. However, when $`q=4`$ the apparent gas temperature in the cooling flow is (unrealistically) lowered by the larger emission contribution from cooling sites. We have shown that the observed gas temperature profile in NGC 4472 cannot be fit if $`q4`$ (Brighenti & Mathews 1999b).

## 3 VISCOUS DIFFUSION OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM

We now consider an alternative possible explanation of the circularity of X-ray images of elliptical galaxies: transport of angular momentum away from the axis of galactic rotation by turbulent diffusion.

Flow-induced turbulence can occur when the ratio of inertial to viscous terms in the equation of motion is large, i.e. when the Reynolds number $`=\rho uL/\mu `$ is much larger than unity. Here $`\mu `$ is the viscosity and $`\rho uL`$ represent the characteristic density, velocity, and length scale in the cooling flow. In an unmagnetized plasma the “molecular” viscosity $`\mu `$ is proportional to the plasma mean free path $`\lambda T^2/n`$ which can be very large in the hot interstellar gas. However, Faraday depolarization studies in the interstellar gas in elliptical galaxies (Garrington & Conway 1991) indicate microgauss magnetic fields for which the proton Larmor radius $`r_L`$ is much smaller than $`\lambda `$, greatly increasing the effective Reynolds number and promoting the likelihood of turbulence. To estimate the Reynolds number we replace $`\lambda `$ with the thermal gyroradius $`r_L`$ in the expression for the viscosity, $`\mu \rho v_{th}r_L`$, where $`v_{th}=(3k_BT/m_p)^{1/2}`$ is the thermal velocity. The resulting Reynolds number for rotating cooling flows,

$$=\left(\frac{\rho ur}{\rho v_{th}r_L}\right)$$

$$3\times 10^{11}\left(\frac{v_\varphi }{200\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}}\right)\left(\frac{r}{\mathrm{kpc}}\right)\left(\frac{T}{10^7\mathrm{K}}\right)^{1/2}\left(\frac{B}{\mu \mathrm{G}}\right),$$

is enormous, so turbulent flow can be expected.

The Rayleigh criterion establishes a necessary condition to avoid shear turbulence in rotating flows: for stability to linear perturbations the specific angular momentum must increase from the rotation axis. By this criterion alone, rotating galactic cooling flows appear to be stable. Initially, as the gas first enters the flow, its specific angular momentum increases outward; this follows from the flat stellar rotation curves typically observed in slowly rotating massive elliptical galaxies (e.g. van der Marel 1991). We have verified that the sense of this gradient in the angular momentum density is preserved in the final cooling flows shown in Figure 1a.

However, rotating flows that satisfy the Rayleigh criterion may still be unstable to non-infinitesimal perturbations that result from turbulent mixing. A variety of non-linear perturbations are present in elliptical galaxies which can generate interstellar turbulence: transport and dissipation of mass ejected from orbiting stars, Type Ia supernovae, the radial sinking of denser cooling sites, buoyant and shearing magnetic fields, etc. Indeed, interstellar mixing (turbulence) due to stellar and supernova sources is likely to generate large magnetic fields in the cooling flow gas by the turbulent dynamo process. These fields, which can serve to redistribute angular momentum, may become dynamically important in the central regions of the flow where the magnetic energy density is further increased by the converging flow (Soker & Sarazin 1990; Moss & Shukurov 1996; Mathews & Brighenti 1997). However, if interstellar turbulence is invoked to account for the circularization of X-ray images, the associated spatial diffusion must not suppress abundance gradients observed in the hot interstellar gas (Matsushita 1997).

In the following discussion we estimate the effective viscosity corresponding to various sources of interstellar mixing or turbulence. Then we describe modifications to the gas dynamical equations that incorporate a spatially dependent turbulent viscosity. This is followed by a description of rotating cooling flows including both mass dropout and turbulent viscosity.

### 3.1 Sources of Interstellar Viscosity

The effective viscosity due to stellar mass loss and Type Ia supernovae can be estimated by constructing the viscosity from its simplest kinematical representation, $`\mu \rho \mathrm{}v`$, where $`\rho `$ is the local gas density, $`\mathrm{}`$ is the mean free path or coherence length of the disturbed region, and $`v`$ is the characteristic velocity appropriate to each process. To estimate the viscosity $`\mu _{}`$ generated by stellar mass loss, we use a length scale $`\mathrm{}_{}2a_{en}=4.5\times 10^9\rho ^{1/3}`$ based on the radius $`a_{en}`$ of a recently ejected stellar envelope in pressure equilibrium (Mathews 1990) and the mean turbulent velocity $`v_t=5.7\times 10^5r_{kpc}^{0.2}`$ cm s-1 as estimated by Mathews and Brighenti (1997). In evaluating $`v_t`$ we use a stellar dispersion $`\sigma _{}=351`$ km s-1 (Table 1) and assume that half of the kinetic energy in stellar ejecta supports the turbulence. With these dimensional values and taking $`\rho 1.05\times 10^{25}r_{kpc}^{1.8}`$ gm cm-3 we find $`\mu _{}0.06r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$ gm cm-1 s-1 for the effective viscosity generated by stellar ejecta. Alternatively, the characteristic length $`\mathrm{}_{}`$ could be based on the total volume of interstellar gas disturbed by the motion of an ejected stellar envelope. If the stopping distance of the stellar envelope after ejection from an orbiting star is $`\mathrm{}_{st}1.2\times 10^{22}r_{kpc}^{0.6}`$ cm (Mathews 1990), then $`\mathrm{}_{}\mathrm{}_{vol}(\pi a_{en}^2\mathrm{}_{st})^{1/3}3.3\times 10^{19}r_{kpc}^{0.6}`$ cm. In this case the viscosity is somewhat larger, $`\mu _{}\rho v_t\mathrm{}_{vol}1.0r_{kpc}^{0.6}`$ gm cm-1 s-1, reflecting the uncertainty in estimating $`\mu _{}`$.

For an equally approximate estimate of the viscosity corresponding to supernova remnants, we use an eddy size $`\mathrm{}_{sn}=3.6\times 10^{11}\rho ^{1/3}`$ cm based on the blast wave calculations of Mathews (1990) and a characteristic mixing velocity $`v_{sn}=2.0\times 10^6r_{kpc}^{0.2}`$ cm s-1 from Mathews & Brighenti (1997), assuming that half of the supernova energy goes into interstellar turbulence. The resulting viscosity for Type Ia supernova explosions is $`\mu _{sn}16.2r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$ gm cm-1 s-1. For both $`\mu _{}`$ and $`\mu _{sn}`$ we ignore a weak time dependence due to variable mass loss from evolving stars and the time dependent Type Ia supernova rate respectively. However, both $`\mu _{}`$ and $`\mu _{sn}`$ decline with galactic radius in a similar fashion due to the decrease in gas and stellar density, so $`\mu _{sn}\mu _{}`$ is expected at all $`r_{kpc}`$ from these formal estimates.

An additional viscosity arises from the cooling dropout process. The increased density in a cooling site relative to the surrounding cooling flow causes it to sink more rapidly in the galactic potential than the background flow. The net effect of the ensemble of differentially sinking sites is an approximately radial exchange of gas in the flow with a corresponding viscosity. When a site of density $`\rho _s>\rho `$ falls at its terminal velocity $`u_t`$, the drag force on the moving site must balance the gravitational force, $`\rho u_t^2\pi r_s^2(4\pi /3)r_s^3\rho _sg`$, where $`g5.2\times 10^7r_{kpc}^1`$ cm s-2 is an approximation to the galactic gravitational acceleration. The radius $`r_s`$ of a cooling site can be estimated using the approximate model for an isobaric, steady state cooling site described by Mathews & Brighenti (1999a). Within the cooling site structure, the temperature varies nearly linearly with radius, $`T=[K\mathrm{\Lambda }(T)]^{1/3}r`$ where $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }=(8\pi /5)(\mu _m/k)^3P^2m_pf\mathrm{\Lambda }(T)/\dot{m}_s=5.2\times 10^{38}r_{kpc}^{3.6}`$. Here $`\mu _m=0.62`$ is the molecular weight, $`f(\mu _m)=0.58`$, and $`P1.9\times 10^{10}r_{kpc}^{1.8}`$ dyne is the approximate interstellar pressure variation. The flow into each site is $`\dot{m}_s=10^6`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1 since line emission from $`10^6`$ sites is required to match the total H$`\beta `$ luminosity from luminous elliptical galaxies (Mathews & Brighenti 1999a) and approximately 1 $`M_{}`$ of interstellar gas cools each year. Taking $`T0`$ at the site center, the radius where $`T=10^6`$ K, at which the site density is $`10\rho `$, is $`r_s2.7\times 10^{18}r_{kpc}^{1.2}`$ cm and the corresponding terminal velocity is $`u_t=[4gr_s(\rho _s/\rho )/3]^{1/2}=43r_{kpc}^{0.1}`$ km s-1. The effective viscosity is then $`\mu _sn_sm_su_tr_s=q\rho u_tr_s`$ where the product of the space density of sites $`n_s`$ and the local site accretion rate $`\dot{m}_s`$ is set equal to $`q\rho /t_{do}`$ and we assume $`m_s/\dot{m}_s=t_{do}`$. Combining all these results, the effective viscosity for the ensemble of sinking cooling sites is roughly $`\mu _s1.2r_{kpc}^{0.5}`$ gm cm-1 s-1. This viscosity is small within most of the bright X-ray core of the galaxy. Although $`\mu _s`$ exceeds $`\mu _{sn}`$ for r
>50
>𝑟50r\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}50 kpc, there is little or no optical line emission from these distant regions.

Obviously, each of these estimates for $`\mu _{}`$, $`\mu _{sn}`$ and $`\mu _s`$ is highly uncertain, perhaps good to an order of magnitude. In addition to these possible sources of turbulent viscosity, the interstellar gas could become turbulent due to continuous mergers of gas-rich smaller galaxies having turbulent wakes, but there is little optical evidence for sufficiently numerous merging galaxies. The torquing action of magnetic stresses can also propagate angular momentum outward, masquerading as viscosity. Finally, we note the considerable energy available in differential shear that could be converted to turbulence if the rotating flow is globally unstable. If the characteristic change of azimuthal velocity over length $`\mathrm{}_\varphi `$ is $`\mathrm{\Delta }v_\varphi |v_\varphi /R|\mathrm{}_\varphi `$, then the effective viscosity is $`\mu _\varphi \rho |v_\varphi /R|\mathrm{}_\varphi ^2`$. From Figure 2a, $`|v_\varphi /R|40`$ km s-1 kpc-1 so $`\mu _\varphi 1000r_{kpc}^{1.8}\mathrm{}_{\varphi ,kpc}^2`$, which could be large depending on the unknown scale length $`\mathrm{}_\varphi `$.

### 3.2 Viscous Terms

In rotating cooling flows the flow velocity in the meridional plane is very subsonic, typically more than an order of magnitude smaller than the azimuthal velocity (Paper I). Therefore, only the azimuthal velocity component $`v_\varphi `$ is relevant to our investigation of the importance of the viscous transport of angular momentum in circularizing the X-ray images of elliptical galaxies. In our numerical solutions, we implement the contribution of viscosity by solving the conservation equation for angular momentum density $`\rho h\rho Rv_\varphi `$. The rate of change of angular momentum density due to viscous effects alone is given by

$$\left(\frac{(\rho h)}{t}\right)_{vis}=\mu \frac{^2h}{R^2}+\mu \frac{^2h}{z^2}\frac{\mu }{R}\frac{h}{R}$$

$$\frac{2h}{R}\frac{\mu }{R}+\frac{h}{R}\frac{\mu }{R}+\frac{h}{z}\frac{\mu }{z}$$

where $`\mu =\mu (R,z)`$ is a spatially variable viscosity. We have incorporated these viscous terms into the Eulerian ZEUS2D code (Stone & Norman 1992) as a separate computational process. In addition to the usual consideration of “source” and “transport” steps in the Eulerian numerical procedure, we modify $`v_\varphi `$ for viscous transport by solving the equation above using a standard operator-splitting procedure. The viscosity terms in the angular momentum equation above correspond to a modified two-dimensional diffusion. We solve these terms at each timestep using a second order alternating-direction implicit (ADI) difference scheme (Press et al. 1992) on the 2D logarithmic grid. Angular momentum diffuses spatially because of viscous effects. When there is no cooling dropout, our numerical procedure conserves total angular momentum but also allows it to flow out of the computational grid at the boundaries.

The equation for thermal energy conservation must also be corrected for the contribution of viscous dissipation. An additional numerical step is applied to the thermal energy equation to solve for the following dissipative heating term:

$$\left(\rho \frac{d\epsilon }{dt}\right)_{vis}=\mu R^2\left\{\left[\frac{}{R}\left(\frac{h}{R^2}\right)\right]^2+\left[\frac{}{z}\left(\frac{h}{R^2}\right)\right]^2\right\}$$

where $`\epsilon =3kT/2\mu _mm_p`$ is the specific thermal energy. The remaining (non-viscous) terms in the thermal energy equation, and the complete equation of motion, are discussed in Brighenti & Mathews (1999a).

### 3.3 Effect of Viscosity on X-ray Images

In general we find that the circularization of X-ray images of elliptical galaxies is easier to achieve with cooling dropout than with viscous redistribution of angular momentum. For this reason we begin our discussion of viscous rotating cooling flows with the supernova viscosity, the largest viscosity expected from the estimates above. In this case $`\mu =\mu _{sn}(r)`$ where $`r=[R^2+z^2]^{1/2}`$ is the radial distance from the galactic center. Figure 4a shows the X-ray image of our rotating galaxy viewed along the equatorial plane at time $`t_n=13`$ Gyrs but now including viscous terms based on $`\mu _{sn}=16.2r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$ gm cm-1 s-1. The solution shown in Figure 4a also includes a mass dropout coefficient $`q=1`$ and the additional surface brightness $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x(R,z)`$ contribution from the collective emission from cooling sites. The contours in Figure 4a are seen to be almost identical to those shown in Figure 1c, the same calculation without viscosity. The velocity field (not shown) is also nearly the same as that in Figure 2b and the spatial distribution of dropout gas in this solution $`\rho _{do}(R,z)`$ is almost identical to the same non-viscous $`q=1`$ solution shown in Figure 3. It is clear that the additional small viscosity due to stellar mass loss and moving cooling sites, $`\mu _{}`$ and $`\mu _s`$, will have almost no effect on the solutions. We conclude that the expected level of turbulent viscosity is insufficient to circularize the X-ray images of cooling flows in elliptical galaxies.

However, our estimates of the viscosity are extremely crude, and it is possible that the real value is considerably larger. To explore this idea, we show in Figure 4b surface brightness $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x(R,z)`$ contours at $`t_n=13`$ Gyrs computed with a greatly enhanced viscosity, $`\mu =100r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$, which still has the decreasing radial dependence expected if the viscosity has a stellar origin. The surface brightness contours in Figure 4b, also computed with $`q=1`$ and dropout emission, are noticeably rounder in the bright central region. In addition, a projection of the X-ray emission from this solution viewed at inclination $`i=60^o`$ (Figure 4c) has contours that are considerably more circular and compares favorably with the observations of Hanlan & Bregman (1999).

Finally, we consider solutions with very large and uniform turbulent viscosity. Our estimates of the sources of viscosity – $`\mu _{sn}`$, $`\mu _{}`$, and $`\mu _s`$ – are independent of galactic shear. However, as we speculated earlier, it is possible that these (or other) non-linear perturbations could unleash the considerable energy density in the shear flow to maintain a high level of turbulence throughout the flow. Strong, approximately uniform distributed turbulence might result from continuing mergers of small gas-rich galaxies penetrating through the cooling flow. But this hypothesis seems doubtful since there is little or no evidence for this type of continuous galactic bombardment in either X-ray or optical images. If many on-going small mergers were required to establish global interstellar turbulence, numerous small, gas-rich galaxies should be apparent in optical images of large elliptical galaxies within the optical image and beyond.

Another obvious motivation for exploring larger turbulent viscosities is the persistence of X-ray flattening in the 10 - 15 kpc region apparent in Figures 1b, 1d, 4b and 4c, which may still exceed X-ray ellipticities in Einstein HRI and ROSAT HRI images. Isophotal flattening (and twists) have been reported by Boute & Canizares (1998) in some large ellipticals, but this effect occurs at much larger radii and is probably related to misalignments of the dark halo and stellar potentials which we do not consider here.

In Figure 5 we show equator-on views of the X-ray surface brightness at 13 Gyrs for solutions computed with large and spatially uniform viscosities, $`\mu =5`$ and 20 gm cm-1 s-1 respectively. Both solutions include dropout with $`q=1`$ and emission produced by cooling sites. Clearly, the largest turbulent viscosity ($`\mu =20`$) can circularize images both in the 10 - 15 kpc region and near the bright center. Turbulent viscosity has very little influence on the current ROSAT luminosity within the optical image of the E2 galaxy: $`L_x=9.1`$, 11.0, 10.0, and $`11.5\times 10^{40}`$ ergs s-1 for $`q=1`$ models with the four viscosities we consider, $`\mu =16.2r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$, $`100r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$, 5, and 10 respectively.

As we mentioned earlier, the fraction of interstellar gas that derives from stellar mass loss decreases with galactic radius. At r
>10
>𝑟10r\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}10 kpc a larger fraction of the gas has flowed in from the halo (Brighenti & Mathews 1999a) and is not created solely by stellar mass loss as we have assumed. The angular momentum density in gas flowing in from the outer halo may be different (and possibly larger) than that of the stars. However, if most of this extended gas was expelled from the large elliptical at early times, driven by a Type II supernova wind, its angular momentum may differ little from that of the galactic stars. But, even in this scenario, if this extended gas has been tidally influenced by other nearby galaxies, as may be common, when it flows in from the outer halo its specific angular momentum could differ from the galactic stars both in magnitude and direction.

To explore the possible influence of inflowing circumgalactic gas on the apparent X-ray shape of galactic cooling flows, we performed several idealized calculations in which additional, non-rotating circumgalactic gas flows in from the galactic halo. In these models (not illustrated here) we used the same parameters for the circumgalactic gas as described in Brighenti & Mathews (1998). As expected, the ellipticity of the X-ray isophotes at 10 - 15 kpc is reduced by the inflowing gas, but the effect is not very large. Evidently the small but significant global spinup resulting from interaction with gas expelled from the rotating stellar system is important even at these radii.

## 4 VISCOUS DIFFUSION OF METALLICITY

If viscosity is invoked to circularize the X-ray images of elliptical galaxies or to amplify magnetic fields in the interstellar gas (Mathews & Brighenti 1997), then the level of turbulence required must be consistent with observed metallicity gradients in the interstellar gas. When X-ray data reduction procedures are applied to spatially resolved elliptical galaxies, the iron abundance in the interstellar gas has been found to decrease with increasing radius approximately as $`z_{Fe}r^{0.5}`$ (e.g., Matsushita 1997). We restrict our discussion here to iron for which current data is most plentiful. In the presence of spatial diffusion the continuity equation for iron mass is

$$\frac{\rho c}{t}+(\rho c𝐮)=(\rho Dc)$$
(1)
$$+\left[\left(\frac{\alpha _{}z_{}}{1.4}\right)+\left(\frac{\alpha _{sn}y_{Fe,Ia}}{m_{sn}}\right)\right]\rho _{}q\frac{\rho }{t_{do}}c,$$

where $`cc_{Fe}=\rho _{Fe}/\rho `$ is the concentration of iron relative to the total mass density. The abundance of iron in the hot gas relative to hydrogen mass can be found from the concentration by correcting for the mass of helium, $`z=1.4c`$. The diffusion coefficient depends on a characteristic velocity and mixing length, $`Dv_d\mathrm{}_d`$ and can be expressed directly in terms of the viscosity, $`D\mu /\rho `$. Iron enters the interstellar gas both from normal stellar mass loss and from Type Ia supernovae. For the stellar iron abundance we assume

$$z_{}(R,z)=z_{Fe,o}[1+(R/R_c)^2+(z/z_c)^2]^{0.3}$$

with central value $`z_{Fe,o}=1.77\times 10^3`$ (e.g., Arimoto et al. 1997; Ishimaru & Arimoto 1997). Each supernova expels $`y_{Fe,Ia}=0.744`$ $`M_{}`$ in iron and a total mass of $`m_{sn}=1.4`$ $`M_{}`$. With a stellar mass to light ratio $`M_t/L_B=9.14`$, we find $`\alpha _{sn}=4.85\times 10^{21}\mathrm{SNu}(t_n)(t/t_n)^1`$ s-1.

For most cases of interest viscous spatial diffusion is insufficient to flatten iron abundance gradients since the gradient is re-established on short timescales by Type Ia supernovae. The timescale for spatial diffusion of iron is $`t_{d,Fe}\rho r^2/\mu 2\times 10^9r_{kpc}^{1.6}`$ years using $`\rho 1.05\times 10^{25}r_{kpc}^{1.8}`$ gm cm-3 and $`\mu =\mu _{sn}=16.2r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$ gm cm-1 s-1. By comparison, the timescale required for Type Ia supernovae to restore an interstellar iron concentration of $`c=z/1.4`$ is $`t_{sn,Fe}\rho cm_{sn}/\alpha _{sn}y_{Fe,Ia}\rho _{}`$. Adopting $`z=0.5`$, $`z_{Fe,}=1.77\times 10^3`$, $`\rho =1.05\times 10^{25}r_{kpc}^{1.8}`$ gm cm-3, $`\rho _{}=4.35\times 10^{22}r_{kpc}^3`$ gm cm-3, and SNu$`(t_n)=0.03`$, we find $`t_{sn,Fe}6\times 10^7r_{kpc}^{1.2}`$ years. Therefore $`t_dt_{sn,Fe}`$ and supernovae can maintain interstellar iron abundance gradients even in the presence of supernova-driven turbulence.

To test this more quantitatively, we have solved the iron concentration equation in several evolving cooling flows. In cylindrical geometry the divergence term in the iron continuity equation (1) is

$$(\rho Dc)=\frac{1}{R}\frac{}{R}\left(R\rho D\frac{c}{R}\right)+\frac{}{z}\left(\rho D\frac{c}{z}\right).$$

This diffusion equation was solved using a second-order ADI method similar to that used for the viscosity terms in the equation of motion.

Figure 6 compares iron abundance profiles in two cooling flows at $`t=t_n`$ along the $`R`$ and $`z`$ axes for both the gas and stars. For the flow with $`q=1`$, $`\mu =\mu _{sn}=16.2r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$ gm cm-1 s-1 and $`D=\mu /\rho `$, the diffusion has almost no effect on the iron distribution in the hot gas, in agreement with our simple estimate above. Even when the viscosity is increased to $`\mu =100`$ throughout the computational grid, also shown in Figure 6, an iron abundance gradient is still present, but is beginning to flatten, particularly at the outer edge of the galactic stellar distribution at $`\mathrm{log}R\mathrm{log}z2`$. This indicates that observed interstellar iron abundance gradients can be maintained only if the average turbulent viscosity is μ
<100
<𝜇100\mu\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}100 gm cm-1 s-1. To investigate further the importance of the source terms on the metallicity gradient, we performed an additional exploratory computation (with $`q=1`$ and $`\mu =100`$) in which the iron source terms in equation (1) were set to zero beginning at time $`t=10`$ Gyrs. By time $`t=11`$ Gyrs in this calculation the iron gradient in the interstellar gas was completely leveled, resulting in uniform $`z_{Fe}(R,z)`$ throughout the computational grid. In this unrealistic test calculation our solution of the concentration diffusion term above behaved as expected.

The diffusive mixing of supernova enrichment in the interstellar gas is relevant to the possibility that locally metal-rich regions may cool by X-radiation and dropout faster than the rest of the cooling flow. We estimate the metallicity diffusion time by equating the diffusion length from each supernova blast wave bubble to the mean distance between bubbles. The number of Type Ia supernova bubbles in a large elliptical galaxy at any time, $`𝒩_{bubb}\nu _{sn}t_{bubb}1.5\times 10^3(t_{bubb}/10^6\mathrm{yrs})`$, is quite small. Here $`t_{bubb}10^6`$ yrs is a typical lifetime of a supernova bubble to destruction by buoyant mixing (Mathews 1990). However, the iron deposited in the cooling flow by Type Ia supernova persists long after the thermal energy in the hot blast wave bubble has dissipated. To estimate the efficiency that supernova iron mixes throughout the interstellar gas by turbulent diffusion, we imagine a time $`t=0`$ at which the supernova explosions begin. Then the mixing time $`t_{mix}`$ for supernova iron to diffuse between supernova sites is found by equating the decreasing distance between supernova bubbles at $`t>0`$ to the distance that iron has diffused by turbulent mixing from any particular site; $`t_{mix}`$ must then be compared to the local cooling flow time. As Type Ia supernovae events increase with time $`t`$, the mean separation between sites is $`\delta _{bubb}(t\nu _{sn}\rho _{}/M_t)^{1/3}36r_{kpc}t_{yr}^{1/3}`$ kpc, estimated with $`\rho _{}=4.35\times 10^{22}r_{kpc}^3`$ gm cm-3. This can be compared with the distance $`\delta _{diff}`$ that diffusion mixes metals from an individual supernova bubble in the same time $`t`$: $`\delta _{diff}=(\mu t/\rho )^{1/2}2.3\times 10^5t_{yr}^{0.5}r_{kpc}^{0.9}`$ kpc where we assume $`\mu =\mu _{sn}=16.2r_{kpc}^{1.4}`$ gm cm-1 s-1 and $`\rho =1.05\times 10^{25}r_{kpc}^{1.8}`$ gm cm-3. Diffusive mixing of supernova enrichment in the interstellar medium occurs in time $`t=t_{mix}`$ found by setting $`\delta _{diff}\delta _{bubb}`$, which gives $`t_{mix}3\times 10^7r_{kpc}^{0.96}`$ yrs. This mixing time is comparable to the radial flow time in the cooling flow, $`t_{flow}r/u5\times 10^7r_{kpc}[u/20(\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s})]^1`$ yrs. We conclude that supernova enrichment products are well mixed throughout the cooling flow for the Type Ia supernova rate we assume here; for turbulent viscosities μ
>μsn
>𝜇subscript𝜇𝑠𝑛\mu\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 3.0pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr>\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}\mu_{sn}, mixing is guaranteed. In a cooling flow the local radiative cooling time is comparable to the flow time, so iron produced by supernovae disappears from the flow by mass dropout in time $`t_{flow}`$. The complete absence of diffusive mixing, as envisioned by Fujita, Fukumoto & Okoshi (1996; 1997), in which unmixed, metal-rich supernova bubbles and stellar ejecta cool rapidly by enhanced X-ray line emission and differentially drop out from the flow may not be realistic, but we have not explicitly ruled out this possiblilty.

## 5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

In this paper we have addressed the curious absence of X-ray disks in rotating, luminous elliptical galaxies. In our previous hydrodynamic studies of rotating cooling flows (Paper I; Brighenti & Mathews 1997) both angular momentum and mass were conserved and the resulting X-ray images were dramatically flattened out to 1-2 effective radii when viewed perpendicular to the axis of rotation. These results appear to be inconsistent with the more circular X-ray images found by observations with Einstein HRI (Fabbiano, Kim & Trinchieri 1992) and ROSAT HRI (Hanlan & Bregman 1999). Nevertheless, the X-ray shapes of elliptical galaxies are difficult to determine from the observations and we may need to wait for the next generation of X-ray telescopes with higher spatial resolution for definitive determinations of X-ray ellipticities. It is likely that interstellar rotational flattening will eventually be observed.

In the preceding discussion we have explored the circularizing influence of mass dropout and turbulent transfer of angular momentum on the X-ray images of rotating galactic cooling flows. Strong theoretical and observational arguments support both of these possibilities. Localized radiative cooling leading to mass dropout throughout the cooling flow is indicated by the relatively low masses of central black holes and adjacent nuclear regions when compared to the mass of interstellar gas that is expected to cool over cosmic time. Further evidence for cooling dropout is provided by optical line emission within $`R_e`$ and the evidence in this same region for a young stellar population having masses that extend up to 1 - 2 $`M_{}`$ but not beyond (Ferland, Fabian, & Johnstone 1994; Mathews & Brighenti 1999a). Interstellar turbulence is also very likely in elliptical galaxies, generated by mass transport associated with stellar mass loss, Type Ia supernovae and mass dropout. Indirect evidence for cooling flow turbulence is provided by interstellar magnetic fields of several $`\mu `$G at $`10R_e`$, which are typically observed in elliptical galaxies having double radio sources. Fields of this magnitude can be understood as originating from small seed fields ejected from mass-losing stars, followed by subsequent field amplification by an interstellar turbulent dynamo mechanism (Moss & Shukurov 1996; Mathews & Brighenti 1997). Due to the field concentration associated with the inward, converging motion of the cooling flow, interstellar magnetic fields are further magnified and are expected to be particularly strong, perhaps exceeding equipartition values, in the central regions of cooling flows. Owen and Eilek (1998) find fields of 10 - 100 $`\mu `$G within $`r=50`$ kpc in the bright cD galaxy NGC 6166.

Elliptical galaxies of lower optical luminosity LB
<3×1010
<subscript𝐿𝐵3superscript1010L_{B}\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}3\times 10^{10} $`L_{B,}`$ differ in many qualitative ways from the more massive elliptical galaxies similar to the one we have studied here (Faber et al. 1997). Low luminosity elliptical galaxies rotate faster and are rotationally flattened. We have shown (Brighenti & Mathews 1997) that rotating, non-dropout cooling flows in these galaxies also form massive, extended disks of cooled gas. However, when $`q=1`$ mass dropout is included in these calculations, disks of cold HI (or H2) do not form from the rotating cooling flow. There is observational evidence for extended disks of cold HI gas in some low luminosity elliptical galaxies, but these HI disks often extend far beyond the optical images of the galaxies, indicating that they were created by a (possibly very old) merging event rather than by cooling flow dropout (Oosterloo, Morganti & Sadler 1999a; 1999b). In some cases the cold gaseous disks have central holes in neutral hydrogen replaced with HII emission (Oosterloo, Morganti & Sadler 1999), suggesting a more complete conversion into stars in this part of the disk where gas pressures and densities are highest and star formation (and ionization by PAGB stellar UV) should be most efficient. In general, systematically larger H$`\beta `$ features are observed in the stellar spectra of elliptical galaxies with LB
<3×1010
<subscript𝐿𝐵3superscript1010L_{B}\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\mathsurround 0pt\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}3\times 10^{10} $`L_{B,}`$, indicating considerable recent star formation (de Jong & Davies 1997). Unfortunately, thermal X-ray emission from the hot interstellar gas in these low-luminosity, low-$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_x`$ ellipticals is masked by the collective emission from low mass X-ray binaries. A detection of X-ray rotational flattening in their cooling flows will require spectral separation of the hot gas and stellar X-rays with high spatial resolution, clearly a job for the next generation of X-ray telescopes.

When mass dropout and turbulence are considered in rotating cooling flows inside luminous elliptical galaxies, we find that:

* Mass dropout alone strongly circularizes the X-ray images in rotating cooling flows since gas is removed from the flow before it has moved very far from its point of origin (stellar mass loss) toward the axis of rotation.
* Conversely, the absence of strong rotational flattening in X-ray images of elliptical galaxies is persuasive evidence for distributed mass dropout.
* In the presence of mass dropout by radiative cooling with $`q=1`$, no cold gaseous disks form on the equatorial plane having radii larger than our innermost grid size, $`150`$ pc. This is due to the sensitivity of radiative cooling (and associated mass dropout) to the local density, $`(\rho /t)_{do}q\rho /t_{do}\rho ^2`$.
* The spatial distribution of cooled gas mass is markedly flatter than that of the old stellar population, especially near the galactic center. Any optical signature of a younger stellar population formed from the cooled gas, such as the H$`\beta `$ index, should also exhibit a significantly higher ellipticity than that of the older, background stars.
* The estimated viscosity from known sources of interstellar turbulence is dominated by motions induced by Type Ia supernovae; stellar mass loss and mass dropout are smaller sources of interstellar turbulent viscosity.
* Supernova-induced turbulent viscosity is insufficient to circularize the X-ray appearance of rotating elliptical galaxies; the viscous effects of stellar mass loss and cooling dropout on the X-ray images are even smaller.
* Much larger, spatially uniform turbulent viscosities can circularize the X-ray isophotes throughout the galaxy; such turbulent viscosities could result from rotational shear instabilities, but we have not demonstrated this instability here.
* The spatial diffusion of interstellar iron due to turbulent viscosity does not appreciably reduce the interstellar iron abundance gradients observed in bright elliptical galaxies, provided the viscosity does not exceed $`100`$ gm cm-1 s-1. This follows since the observed interstellar iron gradients are re-established on short time scales by Type Ia supernovae and, to a lesser extent, by stellar mass loss.

Studies of the evolution of hot gas in elliptical galaxies at UC Santa Cruz are supported by NASA grant NAG 5-3060 and NSF grant AST-9802994 for which we are very grateful. FB is supported in part by Grant MURST-Cofin 98.


text:
# On complete arcs arising from plane curves

## 1. Introduction and statement of results

A $`(k,d)`$-arc $`𝒦`$ in the projective plane $`𝐏^2(𝐅_q)`$, $`𝐅_q`$ being the finite field with $`q`$ elements, is a set of $`k`$ elements such that no line in $`𝐏^2(𝐅_q)`$ meets $`𝒦`$ in more than $`d`$ points. The $`(k,d)`$-arc is called complete if it is not contained in a $`(k+1,d)`$-arc. For basic facts on arcs the reader is refered to \[7, Ch. 12\] (see also the references therein), \[10, Sec. 5\], , and .

A natural example of a $`(k,d)`$-arc is the set $`𝒳(𝐅_q)`$ of $`𝐅_q`$-rational points of a plane curve $`𝒳`$ without linear components and defined over $`𝐅_q`$, where $`k=\mathrm{\#}𝒳(𝐅_q)`$ and $`d`$ is the degree of $`𝒳`$. As a matter of terminology, we shall say that $`𝒳`$ has the arc property whenever $`𝒳(𝐅_q)`$ is a complete $`(k,d)`$-arc with $`k`$ and $`d`$ as above. As a matter of fact, the interplay between the theory of algebraic curves and finite geometries was initiated by Segre around 1955. In  (see also \[7, Sec. 10.4\]) he established an upper bound for the second largest size that a complete $`(k,2)`$-arc in $`𝐏^2(𝐅_q)`$ can have. He proved this result by applying the Hasse-Weil upper bound to the non-singular model of the envelope associated to $`(k,2)`$-arcs. For further results on these arcs see Hirschfeld and Korchmáros’ papers  and . For other applications of curves to finite geometries see the surveys  and .

In this paper we are concerning with the problem of determining plane curves having the arc property. This was asked around 1988 by Hirschfeld and Voloch \[11, Problem III\]. Only few examples of such curves are known. Among them we have the irreducibles conics in odd characteristic \[7, Ch. 8\], certain cubics \[11, Sect. 5\], \[5, Sect. 6\], and Hermitian curves \[7, Lemma 7.20\].

For $`q`$ a square, the Hermitian curve $`𝒳_{\sqrt{q}+1}`$ can be defined by

(1.1)
$$X^{\sqrt{q}+1}+Y^{\sqrt{q}+1}+Z^{\sqrt{q}+1}=0.$$

Then $`𝒳_{\sqrt{q}+1}(𝐅_q)`$ is a complete $`(q\sqrt{q}+1,\sqrt{q}+1)`$-arc (loc. cit.). The completeness property means that for each $`P𝐏^2(𝐅_q)𝒳_{\sqrt{q}+1}(𝐅_q)`$ there exists a $`𝐅_q`$-rational line $`\mathrm{}`$ such that $`\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{}𝒳_{\sqrt{q}+1}(𝐅_q)=\sqrt{q}+1`$. This property can be easily shown by using the special feature of Eq. (1.1) (see the proof of Theorem 1.1(1)). Moreover, this property is also a consequence of the fact that the image of $`P𝒳_{\sqrt{q}+1}`$ by the $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius morphism lies on the tangent line of $`𝒳_{\sqrt{q}+1}`$ at $`P`$ (see the proof of Theorem 1.2). A plane curve satisfying the above property for general points is called $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical , .

The Hermitian curve is a member of the family of Fermat curves $`𝒳_d(a,b)`$ defined by

(1.2)
$$aX^d+bY^d+Z^d=0,$$

where $`d=(q1)/(q^{}1)`$, $`q=p^n`$, $`q^{}=p^e`$, $`p:=\mathrm{char}(𝐅_q)`$ such that $`e<n`$ and $`e|n`$, and where $`a,b𝐅_q^{}^{}:=𝐅_q^{}\{0\}`$.

The first aim of this paper is to extend the arc property of the Hermitian curve to the curves $`𝒳_n(a,b)`$ above as well as to the Fermat curve $`𝒳_{q1}`$ defined by

(1.3)
$$X^{q1}+Y^{q1}=2Z^{q1},$$

provided that $`p3`$.

###### Theorem 1.1.

For $`p3`$, the following statements hold:

1. the set of $`𝐅_q`$-rational points of the Fermat curve defined by Eq. (1.2) is a complete $`(k,d)`$-arc, where $`k=d(qd+2);`$
2. the set of $`𝐅_q`$-rational points of the Fermat curve defined by Eq. (1.3) is a complete $`((q1)^2,q1)`$-arc.

The arc in part (2) of this theorem is maximal among $`(k,q1)`$-arcs for which there exists an external line, see Remark 3.3. On the other hand, it seems that the arcs in part (1) are new.

We notice that the curves in Theorem 1.1 are among the Fermat curves having a large number of $`𝐅_q`$-rational points . We also notice that the hypothesis $`p3`$ is necessary, see Remark 3.2.

The second aim of this paper is to show that certain $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical plane curves do satisfy the arc property.

###### Theorem 1.2.

Let $`𝒳`$ be a non-singular $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical plane curve of degree $`d`$. Let $`ϵ`$ be the order of contact of $`𝒳`$ with the tangent at a general point. If

(1.4)
$$d(d1)<(q+1)ϵ,$$

then the set of $`𝐅_q`$-rational points of $`𝒳`$ is a complete $`(k,d)`$-arc, where $`k=\mathrm{\#}𝒳(𝐅_q)=d(qd+2)`$.

The Fermat curve in Theorem 1.1(2) is $`𝐅_q`$-classical by \[4, Thm. 2\]. Hence the hypothesis of being $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical in Theorem 1.2 is not necessary. We observe that $`d(d1)/ϵ`$ is the degree of the dual curve of $`𝒳`$; see Remark 2.3.

For the Hermitian curve $`𝒳_{\sqrt{q}+1}`$, $`ϵ=\sqrt{q}`$ (see e.g. ) and therefore it satisfies (1.4) in Theorem 1.2. The Fermat curves in Theorem 1.1(1) are $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical, see \[4, Thm. 2\]. For these curves, $`ϵ=q^{}`$ \[6, Thm. 2\], and so they satisfy (1.4) if and only if they are Hermitian curves. So far, we could not find examples of non-singular $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical curves fulfilling (1.4) which are not $`𝐅_q`$-isomorphic to Hermitian curves; see Remark 4.3.

## 2. Frobenius non-classical planes curves

The study of Frobenius non-classical curves was initiated by Hefez and Voloch  based on a fundamental paper by Stöhr and Voloch , where an approach to the Hasse-Weil bound was given.

In this paper we only consider irreducible non-linear plane curves defined over $`𝐅_q`$. Let $`𝒳𝐏^2(\overline{𝐅}_q)`$ be such a curve. For $`i=0,1,2`$, let $`x_i`$ be the coordinates functions of $`𝐏^2(\overline{𝐅}_q)`$ on $`𝒳`$. Let $`t`$ be a separating variable of $`𝐅_q(𝒳)|𝐅_q`$ and denote by $`D^i=D_t^i`$ the $`i`$-th Hasse derivative on $`𝒳`$. The order sequence of $`𝒳`$ (see \[15, p. 5\]) are the numbers $`0,1`$ and $`ϵ=ϵ(𝒳)`$, where $`ϵ>1`$ is the least integer such that

$$\mathrm{det}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}x_0& x_1& x_2\\ D^1x_0& D^1x_1& D^1x_2\\ D^ϵx_0& D^ϵx_1& D^ϵx_2\end{array}\right)0.$$

Geometrically, the numbers 0, 1 and $`ϵ`$ represent all the possible intersection multiplicities of the curve $`𝒳`$ with lines in $`𝐏^2(\overline{𝐅}_q)`$ at general points.

The $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius order sequence of $`𝒳`$ (see \[15, p. 9\]) are the numbers 0 and $`\nu =\nu (𝒳,q)`$, where $`\nu >0`$ is the least integer such that

(2.1)
$$\mathrm{det}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}x_0^q& x_1^q& x_2^q\\ x_0& x_1& x_2\\ D^\nu x_0& D^\nu x_1& D^\nu x_2\end{array}\right)0.$$

We have that $`\nu \{1,ϵ\}`$ \[15, Prop. 2.1\]. The plane curve $`𝒳`$ is called $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical if $`\nu =ϵ`$ (or equivalently if $`\nu >1`$).

###### Remark 2.1.

From Eq. (2.1) follows that $`𝒳`$ is $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical if and only if $`𝐅r_𝒳(P)T_P𝒳`$ for all non-singular points $`P𝒳`$, where $`𝐅r_𝒳`$ is the $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius morphism on $`𝒳`$ and $`T_P𝒳`$ is the tangent line to $`𝒳`$ at $`P`$.

###### Remark 2.2.

Let $`𝒳`$ be a curve as above.

(i) If $`ϵ(𝒳)>2`$ then it is a power of $`p`$ \[3, Prop. 2\].

(ii) If $`𝒳`$ is $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical and $`p>2`$, then $`ϵ(𝒳)>2`$ \[6, Prop. 1\].

(iii) If $`𝒳`$ is $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical, then $`ϵ(𝒳)q`$ \[6, p. 266\]. If in addition $`𝒳`$ is non-singular, then $`ϵ(𝒳)\sqrt{q}`$ \[6, Prop. 6\].

(iv) Let $`𝒳`$ be non-singular $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical plane curve. Let $`d`$ the degree of $`d`$ and suppose that $`ϵ=ϵ(𝒳)>2`$. Then \[6, Props. 5, 6\]

$$\sqrt{q}+1d(q1)/(ϵ1).$$

###### Remark 2.3.

Let $`𝒳`$ be a non-singular plane curve of degree $`d2`$, $`𝒳^{}`$ the dual curve of $`𝒳`$ and $`T:𝒳𝒳^{}`$ the dual map; i.e, $`T(P)=T_P𝒳`$. Then $`d(d1)=\mathrm{deg}(T)d^{}`$, where $`d^{}`$ is the degree of $`𝒳^{}`$; this follows e.g. from \[12, Lemma 4.3\]. Now by a result of Kaji \[13, Cor. 4.5\], $`T`$ is purely inseparable. If in addition, $`𝒳`$ is $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical, then $`\mathrm{deg}(T)=ϵ(𝒳)`$ \[6, Props. 3 and 4\]. Therefore, in Theorem 1.2 we look for $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical plane curves such that the degree of its dual curve is upper bounded by $`(q+1)`$.

Let $`F=F(X_0,X_1,X_2)=0`$ be the equation of $`𝒳`$ over $`𝐅_q`$. From \[3, Thm. 1\], $`ϵ=ϵ(𝒳)>2`$ if and only if there exist homogeneous polynomials $`H,P_0,P_1,P_2𝐅_q[X_0,X_1,X_2]\{0\}`$ such that

(2.2)
$$FH=X_0P_0^ϵ+X_1P_1^ϵ+X_2P_2^ϵ.$$

We have that $`H=1`$ if $`𝒳`$ is non-singular (loc. cit, p. 462). Now it is easy to see that $`𝒳`$ is $`𝐅_q`$-non-classical if and only if there exists $`H_1𝐅_q[X_0,X_1,X_2]`$ such that

(2.3)
$$FH_1=X_0^{q/ϵ}P_0+X_1^{q/ϵ}P_1+X_2^{q/ϵ}P_2.$$

Finally, we mention a formula for the precise number of $`𝐅_q`$-rational points of non-singular $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical curves.

###### Lemma 2.4.

(\[6, Thm. 1\]) Let $`𝒳`$ be a plane non-singular $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical curve of degree $`d`$. Then

$$\mathrm{\#}𝒳(𝐅_q)=d(qd+2).$$

## 3. Proof of Theorem 1.1

(1) That $`\mathrm{\#}𝒳_d(a,b)=d(qd+2)`$ is well known, see e.g. \[4, p. 354\]. (This result also follows from \[4, Thm. 2\] and Lemma 2.4).

Next, for $`P𝐏^2(𝐅_q)𝒳_d(𝐅_q)`$, we will show that there exists a $`𝐅_q`$-rational line $`\mathrm{}`$ which passes through $`P`$ and intersects the curve $`𝒳_d(a,b)`$ in $`d`$ distinct $`𝐅_q`$-rational points. We recall the following easy fact.

###### Claim 3.1.

Let $`A,B𝐅_q^{}^{}`$. Then the equation $`AX^d+B=0`$ has $`d`$ distinct solutions in $`𝐅_q`$.

###### Proof.

Since $`p`$ does not divide $`d`$, the equation has $`d`$ solutions in $`\overline{𝐅}_q`$. If $`x`$ is a solution, then $`x^{q1}=1`$, as $`d=(q1)/(q^{}1)`$, and hence $`x𝐅_q`$. ∎

We consider four cases:

Case 1: $`P=(\alpha :\beta :0)`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:Z=0`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_d(a,b)=\{(\lambda :1:0):a\lambda ^d+b=0\}.$$

Case 2: $`P=(\alpha :\beta :1)`$ and $`a\alpha ^d+10`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:X=\alpha Z`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_d(a,b)=\{(\alpha :\lambda :1):b\lambda ^d+a\alpha ^d+1=0\}.$$

Case 3: $`P=(\alpha :\beta :1)`$ and $`b\beta ^d+10`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:Y=\beta Z`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_d(a,b)=\{(\lambda :\beta :1):a\lambda ^d+b\beta ^d+1=0\}.$$

Case 4: $`P=(\alpha :\beta :1)`$ and $`a\alpha ^d+1=b\beta ^d+1=0`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:\beta X=\alpha Y`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_d(a,b)=\{(\alpha ,\beta ,\beta \lambda ):\lambda ^d+2b=0\}.$$

Now by Claim 3.1 all the sets above have cardinality $`d`$ and are contained in $`𝒳_d(a,b)(𝐅_q)`$. This completes the proof of Theorem 1.1(1).

(2) We have that

$$𝒳_{q1}(𝐅_q)=\{(\alpha :\beta :\gamma )𝐏^2(𝐅_q):\alpha \beta \gamma 0\},$$

so that $`\mathrm{\#}𝒳_{q1}(𝐅_q)=q^2+q+13q=(q1)^2`$. Let $`P=(\alpha :\beta :\gamma )𝐏^2(𝐅_q)𝒳_{q1}(𝐅_q)`$. The proof of the arc property for $`𝒳_{q1}`$ follows from the following five computations.

Case 1: $`\beta =\gamma =0`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:Y=Z`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_{q1}=\{(\lambda :1:1):\lambda 𝐅_q^{}\}.$$

Case 2: $`\beta 0`$ and $`\gamma =0`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:Y=bX`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_{q1}=\{(1:b:\lambda ):\lambda 𝐅_q^{}\}.$$

Case 3: $`\alpha =\beta =0`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:X=Y`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_{q1}=\{(1:1:\lambda ):\lambda 𝐅_q^{}\}.$$

Case 4: $`\alpha 0`$ and $`\gamma =1`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:X=aZ`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_{q1}=\{(a:\lambda :1):\lambda 𝐅_q^{}\}.$$

Case 5: $`\beta 0`$ and $`\gamma =1`$. Let $`\mathrm{}:Y=bZ`$. Then $`P\mathrm{}`$ and

$$\mathrm{}𝒳_{q1}=\{(\lambda :b:1):\lambda 𝐅_q^{}\}.$$

###### Remark 3.2.

The hypothesis $`p3`$ in Theorem 1.1(1) is necessary. Indeed, consider the Fermat curve $`𝒳`$ defined by

$$X^{q1}+Y^{q1}+Z^{q1}=0,$$

where $`q`$ is a power of two. Take $`P=(1:1:1)`$. Then it is easy to see that $`\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{}𝒳<q1`$ for any $`𝐅_q`$-rational line $`\mathrm{}`$ passing through $`P`$.

###### Remark 3.3.

For a $`(k,q1)`$-arc $`𝒦`$ having an external line (i.e. a $`𝐅_q`$-rational line $`\mathrm{}`$ such that $`\mathrm{}𝒦=\mathrm{}`$), we have that $`k(q2)q+1=(q1)^2()`$ \[7, Thm. 12.40\]. Since the line $`\mathrm{}:Z=0`$ is external to the $`((q1)^2,q1)`$-arc in Theorem 1.1(2), we have that the upper bound in $`()`$ is attained by this arc.

###### Remark 3.4.

Notice that the $`((q1)^2,q1)`$-arc in Theorem 1.1(2) is the complement of three non-concurrent lines in $`𝐏^2(𝐅_q)`$. Moreover, it can be shown that any such set is a complete $`((q1)^2,q1)`$-arc which is also the set of $`𝐅_q`$-rational points of a plane curve of degree $`q1`$; it turns out that this curve is $`𝐅_q`$-isomorphic to the Fermat curve $`𝒳_{q1}`$.

###### Example 3.5.

Taking $`q=p^3`$ and $`q^{}=p`$ in Theorem 1.1(1), we have that there exists a complete $`(k,p^2+p+1)`$-arc in $`𝐏^2(𝐅_q)`$ with $`k=(p^2+p+1)(p^3p^2p+1)`$. In particular, there exists a complete $`(208,13)`$-arc in $`𝐅_{27}`$.

## 4. Proof of Theorem 1.2

Theorem 1.2 will be a consequence of the following more general result.

###### Theorem 4.1.

Let $`𝒳`$ be a $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical (possible singular) plane curve. Let $`d`$ be the degree of $`𝒳`$ and $`k=\mathrm{\#}𝒳(𝐅_q)`$. Then $`𝒳(𝐅_q)`$ is a complete $`(k,d)`$-arc provided that

$$k>(dϵ)(q+1\mathrm{\#}S)+(d1)\mathrm{\#}S,$$

where $`S`$ is the set of singular points of $`𝒳`$ and $`ϵ`$ is as in Theorem 1.2.

###### Proof.

Suppose that $`𝒳(𝐅_q)`$ is not complete. Then there exists $`P𝐏^2(𝐅_q)𝒳(𝐅_q)`$ such that for any $`𝐅_q`$-rational line $`\mathrm{}`$ through $`P`$,

(4.1)
$$\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{}𝒳(𝐅_q)<d.$$

###### Claim 4.2.

If $`\mathrm{}`$ is a line such that (4.1) holds and that $`\mathrm{}S=\mathrm{}`$, then

$$\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{}𝒳(𝐅_q)(dϵ).$$

###### Proof.

Case 1: $`\mathrm{}𝒳𝒳(𝐅_q)`$. Let $`Q\mathrm{}𝒳𝒳(𝐅_q)`$. Then, as $`\mathrm{}`$ is $`𝐅_q`$-rational, $`𝐅r_𝒳(Q)\mathrm{}`$ and thus, as $`\mathrm{}S=\mathrm{}`$, $`\mathrm{}`$ is the tangent line of $`𝒳`$ at $`Q`$ (see Remark 2.1). Therefore

$$\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{}𝒳(𝐅_q)dϵ,$$

since $`I(𝒳,\mathrm{};Q)ϵ`$; see \[15, p.5\].

Case 2: $`\mathrm{}𝒳𝒳(𝐅_q)`$. From (4.1) and Bezout’s theorem there exists $`Q\mathrm{}𝒳(𝐅_q)`$ such that $`j(Q):=I(𝒳,\mathrm{};Q)>1`$. Then, as $`\mathrm{}S=\mathrm{}`$, $`\mathrm{}`$ is the tangent line of $`𝒳`$ at $`Q`$. We have that

$$\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{}𝒳(𝐅_q)dj(Q)+1$$

and the claim follows from the fact that $`j(Q)ϵ+1`$ \[15, Cor. 2.10\]. ∎

Now there are at most $`N\mathrm{\#}S`$ lines $`\mathrm{}^{}`$ such that $`\mathrm{}^{}S\mathrm{}`$. For each of these lines, $`\mathrm{}^{}𝒳(𝐅_q)d1`$; hence from Claim 4.2 we have

$$k(dϵ)(q+1N)+(d1)N.$$

Then $`k(dϵ)(q+1)+N(ϵ1)(dϵ)(q+1)+(ϵ1)\mathrm{\#}S`$, a contradiction. This finishs the proof of Theorem 4.1. ∎

Proof of Theorem 1.2. We have $`S=\mathrm{}`$ and so the hypothesis in Theorem 4.1 is

(4.2)
$$k>(dϵ)(q+1).$$

Since $`k=d(qd+2)`$ (see Lemma 2.4), it turns out that (4.2) is equivalent to $`d(d1)<(q+1)ϵ)`$ and the result follows.

###### Remark 4.3.

Let $`𝒳`$ be a non-singular $`𝐅_q`$-Frobenius non-classical curve of degree $`d`$. Assume $`ϵ=ϵ(𝒳)>2`$. Then from Eqs. (2.2) and (2.3), $`d=\lambda ϵ+1`$ for some $`\lambda 𝐍`$. If (1.4) holds, then

$$\sqrt{q}/ϵ\lambda <\sqrt{q/ϵ},$$

where the first inequality follows from Remark 2.2(iv).

For a concrete example take $`q=p^3`$. Then $`ϵ=p`$ by Remark 2.2(i)(iii) and so $`\sqrt{p}\lambda <p`$. Therefore $`𝒳`$ will satisfy (1.4) if $`\lambda =p1`$, i.e. if $`𝒳`$ has degree $`d=p^2p+1`$. The existence of a such curve is equivalent to the existence of polynomials $`P_0,P_1,P_2𝐅_q[X_0,X_1,X_2]`$ of degree $`p1`$ and $`H_1𝐅_q[X_0,X_1,X_2]`$ such that Eqs. (2.2) and (2.3) hold true. This seems an involved problem. On the other hand, the curve $`𝒳`$ will rise to the existence of a complete $`((p^2p+1)(p^3p^2+p+1),p^2p+1)`$-arc. Unfortunately, the existence of such an arc is not known.

Acknowledgments. The authors wish to thank J.W.P. Hirschfeld and G. Korchmáros for useful comments. This research was carried out with the support of the Italian Ministry for Research and Technology (project 40% “Strutture geometriche, combinatorie e loro applicazioni”). Part of this paper was written while Torres was visiting Perugia in February and December 1999.