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# Radio Emission from GRO J1655–40 during the 1994 Jet Ejection Episodes

## 1 Introduction

The X-ray transient GRO J1655$``$40 (Nova Sco 1994) was first detected with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on board the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory on 1994 July 27 (Zhang et al. (1994)). Significant flux was observed up to 200 keV and the source reached a luminosity of 1.1 Crab (20–100 keV) on Aug 1. GRO J1655$``$40 remained in outburst until about Aug 15, and after a period of quiescence flared again on Sept 6 (Harmon et al. (1995)). The detection of a steeply-rising radio counterpart was first reported by Campbell-Wilson & Hunstead (1994a) following observations with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) at 843 MHz on 1994 Aug 6 and 11. The flux density continued to increase, reaching 4.2 Jy on 1994 Aug 14 and 5.5 Jy on 1994 Aug 15 (Campbell-Wilson & Hunstead 1994b ). High resolution radio observations using the Very Large Array (VLA), the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) (Hjellming & Rupen 1995, hereafter HR95) and the Southern Hemisphere VLBI Experiment (SHEVE) array (Tingay et al. (1995)) showed repeated episodes of relativistic ejections. Three major ejection events on TJD 9577.5, 9584 and 9596 (TJD defined as JD $``$ 2440000.5) were observed with the VLA and three on TJD 9574$`\pm `$1, 9605$`\pm `$2 and 9668$`\pm `$5 were recorded with the VLBA (HR (95)). The ejection velocity, after correction for inclination to the line of sight, was inferred to be $`v0.92c`$ in the rest frame of GRO J1655$``$40, at a position angle of $`47^{}\pm 1^{}`$ (HR (95)); wiggles about the jet axis were interpreted as precession with a period of $`3.0\pm 0.2`$d. Photometric observations showed GRO J1655$``$40 to be a high-inclination binary system (Bailyn et al. (1995)). Subsequent optical observations led to the determination of a precise mass for the primary, $`M_1=7.02\pm 0.22M_{}`$ (Orosz & Bailyn (1997)), which is well above the theoretical upper limit for a neutron star and direct evidence for it being a black hole. In addition, Soria et al. (1998) found a 95% confidence limit of $`M_1>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5.1}M_{}`$ for the mass of the primary based on measurements of velocity variations in the He ii disk emission lines, thought to reflect the orbital motion of the primary, and hence confirming GRO J1655$``$40 to be a black hole binary. The mass of the secondary, which is classified as F3 IV–F6 IV, is $`M_2=2.34\pm 0.12M_{}`$, and the spectroscopic period of the binary is $`P=2^d.62157\pm 0^d.00015`$ (Orosz & Bailyn (1997)).

During the 1994 ejection events, the radio outbursts from GRO J1655$``$40 were monitored in the southern hemisphere by the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST), the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), and the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO). We discuss below the results of these observations. Sections 2 and 3 describe the MOST, ATCA and HartRAO observations and the resulting light curves. In Section 4 we present the linear polarization data from the ATCA, and we discuss the evolution of the radio spectra in Section 5. We briefly compare our results with those of HR95 in Section 6. Finally, we interpret the polarization data in terms of a ‘core-lobe’ model in Section 7.

## 2 Observations and data reduction

### 2.1 MOST

The MOST is an east-west synthesis array comprising two colinear cylindrical paraboloids each 11.6 m wide by 778 m long, separated by a 15 m gap (Mills (1981); Robertson (1991)). The telescope operates at 843 MHz, with a detection bandwidth of 3.25 MHz, and measures right circular polarization (as defined by the IEEE standard). The synthesized beamwidth is $`43\mathrm{}\times 43\mathrm{}\mathrm{cosec}|\delta |`$ FWHM (RA $`\times `$ Dec). The telescope forms a comb of 64 real-time fan beams spaced by $`22\mathrm{}`$; for the observations of GRO J1655$``$40 the pointing of the beam set was time shared among three adjoining positions to give a field size of $`70\mathrm{}\times 70\mathrm{}`$ cosec$`|\delta |`$. The background noise in a full 12-hour synthesis image was typically 1.5 mJy rms.

Many GRO J1655$``$40 observations were partial syntheses as the observations were fitted in around a previously scheduled observing program. The choice of field center serendipitously included a strong point source ($``$ 900 mJy, J2000 position $`16^\mathrm{h}53^\mathrm{m}55.9^\mathrm{s},40^\mathrm{°}37^{\mathrm{}}23^{\mathrm{}}`$) that has subsequently been used as an internal reference source. The flux density calibration was based on short fan-beam scan observations of strong point sources from the list of Campbell-Wilson and Hunstead (1994c). For S$`{}_{843\mathrm{MHz}}{}^{}>100`$ mJy the dominant source of error in a synthesis image is the scatter in the pre- and post-observation calibrators; a conservative error of $`\pm 3`$% has been assigned. At lower flux densities the error becomes dominated by noise and, for partial syntheses, residuals arising from incomplete cancellation of strong out-of-field sources. This difficulty can be partly overcome by subtracting a reference image (obtained when GRO J1655$``$40 was quiescent) with the same hour angle coverage.

The data processing used standard MOST reduction software. When the source was bright we were able to search for sample-to-sample (24 s) variations in flux density. Such measurements are affected by confusing sources in MOST’s fan beams, by the effects of ionospheric refraction and by slow drifts in telescope calibration. These effects are eliminated or greatly reduced in a full 12-hour synthesis. For this paper, individual sample flux densities were fitted and averaged in blocks of 200 (80 minutes) and then combined in 4–6-hour blocks for tabulation. Full synthesis imaging was used when the source flux density fell below 500 mJy, with flux densities measured using IMFIT in aips.

In addition to the synthesis-mode observations of GRO J1655$``$40, spot measurements of flux density were obtained using 4-minute scan observations, bracketed by scans of calibrators. This mode of operation measures the target and calibrator source flux densities using the (same) central beams of the 64-beam block. It was used only when the flux density of GRO J1655$``$40 was greater than 1 Jy, with the fit parameters serving as a guide to the presence of confusing sources in the fan-beam response. The final light curve, tabulated in Table 1, contains a mix of flux densities measured from synthesis images, from averaged fits to the synthesis data, and from scan observations, and includes data from a third, weaker outburst which occurred in 1994 Nov (Wu & Hunstead (1997); Hannikainen, Hunstead & Campbell-Wilson (1998)).

### 2.2 ATCA

Following the report of the intense radio outburst by the MOST, GRO J1655$``$40 was monitored as a target-of-opportunity with the ATCA for a period of about twenty days. VLBI observations and H I spectral line observations were also undertaken (McKay & Kesteven (1994); Tingay et al. (1995)).

The ATCA is an earth-rotation aperture synthesis array, comprising six 22-m antennas which can be moved along an east-west railway track to give baselines up to 6 km (Frater, Brooks & Whiteoak (1992)). The observations of GRO J1655$``$40 were made at central frequencies of 1.380, 2.378, 4.800, 5.900, 8.640 and 9.200 GHz with 128 MHz bandwidth in two orthogonal linear polarizations. Each observation was typically 10 minutes duration, with the antenna gain and phase calibration derived from regular observations of the point-source calibrator PKS B1740$``$517. The flux density scale was tied to the primary calibrator PKS B1934$``$638, which we assume has flux densities of 14.96, 11.54, 5.83 and 2.84 Jy at 20, 13, 6 and 3 cm (1.4, 2.3, 4.8, 8.6 GHz) respectively (Reynolds (1994)). The 6.0A configuration was used throughout, giving interferometer spacings from 337–5939 m.

The data were reduced using standard flagging and calibration techniques in the miriad package (Sault, Teuben & Wright (1995)). The polarimetric calibration of ATCA data is described in Sault, Killeen & Kesteven (1991). Polarimetric leakages, which are quite stable with time on the ATCA, were determined simultaneously with the antenna gains using either PKS B1934$``$638 or PKS B1740$``$517, both known to be unpolarized. The resultant polarimetric purity of the calibrated data is believed to be better than 0.1%. At all wavelengths, a single round of phase self-calibration was performed on the GRO J1655$``$40 data (using a point source model) to eliminate residual phase instability. As the observations placed GRO J1655$``$40 at the phase center, we simply summed the real parts of the relevant Stokes visibilities to determine the source flux density; this is equivalent to natural weighting. The errors are dominated by systematic effects. For the total intensity measurements, the errors are smaller than 1% of Stokes I, while for Stokes Q and U they are less than 0.1% of Stokes I. The ATCA total flux densities are tabulated in Table 2.

### 2.3 HartRAO

Continuum measurements of the flux density of GRO J1655$``$40 were made at 3.5 and 6.0 cm using the 26-m telescope of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) situated in Gauteng, South Africa. The observations were made using dual-feed systems operated in a beam-switched Dicke mode. At 3.5 cm (8.58 GHz) the bandwidth was 400 MHz, the beamwidth $`5.7^{}`$ FWHM and the feed recorded right circular polarization. The 6 cm (5 GHz) receiver had a bandwidth of 800 MHz, a beamwidth of $`10^{}`$ FWHM and the feed was linearly polarized east-west.

The flux density at each wavelength was measured using a five-point stepping sequence in declination to correct for pointing errors in this coordinate; the stepping positions in terms of beam parameters were first null, half-power, on-source, half-power, first null. The five points were fitted to a Gaussian to determine declination pointing errors. Right ascension errors were measured at 6 cm by observing midway between the beams. Right ascension pointing corrections at 3.5 cm were assumed to be the same as at 6 cm. The beam separation was sufficiently close ($`15^{}`$ or 1.5 times the beamwidth at 6 cm) that the response of the dual-beam Dicke system varied linearly with right ascension in this region. The observed flux density is an average over both beams, corrected for both declination and right ascension pointing errors. Measurements alternated between the two wavelengths with 10 minutes’ integration on each.

Gain curve corrections, determined by G. Nicolson (private communication), were applied to the data. Flux densities were calibrated to an arbitrary scale using a noise diode, and the calibrators 3C 123, 3C 161, 3C 218 (Hydra A), 3C 274 (Virgo A) and 3C 348 were observed occasionally to put the flux densities on the Ott et al. (1994) scale. The HartRAO data are tabulated in Table 3; we note that on some days the scatter among a closely spaced sequence of measurements is somewhat larger than implied by their formal errors.

## 3 Radio light curves

### 3.1 MOST and HartRAO

The MOST 843 MHz light curve up to the end of 1994 September is plotted in the top panel of Figure 1. The duration of the ATCA observations is also shown, as are the epochs of specific ejection episodes, as reported by HR (95) from their VLA and VLBA data; we labelled these epochs vla1, vla2, vla3 and vlba1, vlba2, corresponding to TJD 9577.5, 9584, 9596 and TJD 9574, 9605, respectively. The BATSE 20–100 keV light curve (provided by S. N. Zhang and W. S. Paciesas) is plotted in the bottom panel, showing two major hard X-ray outbursts, beginning on TJD $`9560`$ and TJD $`9600`$.

Two radio outbursts were observed with the MOST in 1994 August–September, both apparently associated with the hard X-ray bursts detected by BATSE. The MOST data clearly show the rise of the radio flux density lagging behind the rise of the X-ray intensity in the outbursts. During the first X-ray outburst, the radio flux density was still low (S$`_{843\mathrm{MHz}}`$ $``$ 0.36 Jy) on TJD 9570.60, while the X-ray intensity had already reached its maximum. When the X-ray intensity began to decline, the radio flux density then increased rapidly, reaching a local maximum (S1) of 5.45 Jy on TJD 9579.22. After a brief decline, the flux density rose again and reached a new peak of 7.62 Jy on TJD 9582.13, about two weeks after the X-ray peak. At this point the X-ray intensity had already fallen to a much lower level, but was still above the background. The radio peak in the second outburst (S2) also lagged the X-ray peak, but the delay was shorter. The maximum intensities in the two X-ray bursts were similar, but the second radio burst was obviously weaker.

#### 3.1.1 Short Duration Radio Burst Component

To emphasize some specific features of the temporal evolution of the radio emission, we plot in Figure 2 (upper panel) the MOST 843 MHz and HartRAO 5 GHz flux densities on a logarithmic scale as a function of time. Closely spaced groups of 5 GHz points are plotted as weighted averages. The 843 MHz flux density curve is characterized by short-duration burst components (marked S1 and S2) superimposed on longer-lived components (L1 and L2) which show an approximately exponential decay. HartRAO did not observe GRO J1655$``$40 until after the end of S1, but S2 was clearly recorded at 5 GHz. The confirmation of the short duration burst component is an important new result, since neither the VLA (HR (95)) nor the ATCA collected data during these periods. From the MOST data, the short duration components, S1 and S2, have e-folding rise times of $`1.1`$ days, and S2 decays with an e-folding time of $`2.2`$ days. The rising time scale for the long duration component cannot be determined from the data, but L1 and L2 have e-folding decay times of $`6.5`$ days and $`8.7`$ days respectively. A third short duration event was observed by MOST peaking on TJD $`9666`$ which decayed with an e-folding time of $`2.6`$ days (Table 1; Wu & Hunstead (1997)). In addition, the flare observed in 1996 had an initial e-folding decay time of $`1.4`$ days, similar in scale to the times quoted above (Hunstead, Wu & Campbell-Wilson (1997)). It is tempting to speculate that event S2 may be a prompt response to the brief hard X-ray event at TJD 9610. A similar association at TJD 9579 can be made for S1 but seems less plausible.

### 3.2 ATCA

Figure 3 shows the ATCA Stokes I light curves at all six observing frequencies, again plotted on a log-linear scale to emphasize the overall exponential decay; the MOST light curve is included for comparison.

The ATCA observations were initiated during the decay phase of the S1 short duration burst component. It is clear from Figure 3 that the flux density at all six ATCA frequencies declines simultaneously with the MOST flux density between TJD $`95799580`$ suggesting that the short burst component was present at all frequencies. Following the minimum at TJD $`9580`$ the flux density increases for all six ATCA frequencies, reaching a local maximum of 5.49 Jy at 1.4 GHz on TJD 9581.62; note, however, that the overall maximum flux density at frequencies $`4.8`$ GHz occurs prior to the minimum. For TJD $`>9582`$ there is a steady decline, with time constants similar to MOST’s at the lower frequencies but shorter at the higher frequencies (4.8–9.2 GHz). Other features, such as the dip at the higher frequencies around TJD 9583 and the rise between 9596 and 9598 at 8.6 GHz, are discussed in later sections.

## 4 Linear polarization

Linear polarization was detected at all six ATCA frequencies throughout the epoch of the observations. The fractional polarization at each frequency, $`\mathrm{P}/\mathrm{I}=\sqrt{(\mathrm{Q}^2+\mathrm{U}^2)}/\mathrm{I}`$, expressed as a percentage, is plotted together in Figure 4 as a function of time, and the values are listed in Table 4. Because Figure 4 is rather complex, and difficult to interpret on its own, we also include Figure 5 which shows separate overlaid plots of the polarized and total intensity at each frequency.

The frequency-dependent time evolution of the P/I light curves is reminiscent of the ‘expanding synchrotron bubble’ model (e.g., Hjellming & Johnston (1988); Ball & Vlassis (1993)). This simple model is characterized by an optically thick rising phase in which the flux density peaks first at the highest frequencies, followed by delayed peaks of lower intensity at progressively lower frequencies. The decay at all frequencies has a power-law time dependence, with an exponent linked to the electron energy distribution.

We have marked three apparent ‘bubble-type’ events in the linearly polarized ATCA data, and labelled them E1, E2 and E3 in Figures 4 and 5, using the 8.6 and 9.2 GHz curves for reference. However, it is worth noting that the beamsize of the ATCA is larger than the angular size of GRO J1655$``$40 (HR95) at all frequencies, so we are observing effects which encompass both the central object and the ejecta. As a result, we can only hope to establish qualitative comparison with the sychrotron bubble model. In fact, contrary to the model prediction, Figure 3 shows that the source was optically thin at TJD 9582, the time of the major peak in flux density.

Figures 4 and 5 show that the first event, E1, is characterized by a series of declining peaks in the 8.6 and 9.2 GHz data. The peaks at 4.8 and 5.9 GHz are less well defined and their decay is clearly delayed with respect to the higher frequencies, in qualitative agreement with the expanding bubble model. The delays at 1.4 and 2.3 GHz are sufficiently large that the contributions from successive ejecta blend with one another and produce a broad peak in both P and P/I. It is interesting to note that the polarized flux density (Fig. 5) reached essentially the same maximum value ($`\mathrm{P}0.2`$ Jy) at all frequencies.

The early stages of event E2 also show qualitative agreement with the expanding synchrotron bubble model, with the rise in P/I at the higher frequencies preceding that at lower frequencies. However, the four higher frequencies all reach a maximum together and then fall to a minimum at the same time, behavior which is not consistent with the model. Event E3 is also inconsistent with the model, as the fractional polarizations at 4.8–9.2 GHz increase and decrease simultaneously. We discuss possible interpretations of this behavior in Section 7.

### 4.1 Position angle and rotation measure

Faraday rotation of the plane of polarization has been taken into account by fitting the observed position angles (PA) to the usual equation, $`\mathrm{PA}=\mathrm{PA}_0+(\mathrm{RM})\lambda ^2`$, where PA0 is the intrinsic position angle, RM is the rotation measure (in rad m-2) and $`\lambda `$ is the wavelength. The data were first interpolated to a common epoch, namely that of the 9.2 GHz observations. The position angle was determined from the equation $`\mathrm{PA}=\frac{1}{2}[\mathrm{arctan}(\mathrm{U}/\mathrm{Q})+n\pi ]`$, the last term reflecting the ambiguities of $`n\pi `$ that may arise at each frequency, and then plotted against $`\lambda ^2`$. A weighted least-squares linear fit yielded the intrinsic position angle (y-intercept) and the RM (slope). Since the position angle is an average over the beamsize, this means that it is also an average over the central source and the ejecta.

Figure 6 shows the temporal evolution of the intrinsic polarization position angle and rotation measure. The average position angle between TJD 9579 and 9589 was $`47\mathrm{°}`$, which is consistent with the position angle of the jets (HR (95)). This implies that the magnetic field is perpendicular to the jets, a phenomenon also seen in the parsec-scale relativistic jets from powerful radio-loud AGN (e.g. Bridle & Perley (1984)). The overall constancy in position angle suggests that the magnetic field is well ordered, and maintains basically the same orientation. However, on TJD 9589.5 the position angle drops to $`26\mathrm{°}`$, and after a brief increase to $`43\mathrm{°}`$, remains at $`24\mathrm{°}\pm 4\mathrm{°}`$ during the last three observing epochs.

The rotation measure increases rapidly from $`6`$ rad m-2 on TJD 9579.5 to $`104`$ rad m-2 on TJD $`9582`$. It then levels off at $`60`$ rad m-2 for the rest of the observing period, the only exception being an increase to $`80`$ rad m-2 on TJD 9598. Its relative constancy after TJD 9582 suggests that $`60`$ rad m-2 arises from the path through the interstellar medium, while the rapid increase prior to TJD 9582 probably reflects local effects arising at or near the source. The low values of rotation measure around TJD 9579.5 imply that the magnetic field at the source is in the opposite direction to that of the interstellar medium, and the increase to $`104`$ rad m-2 indicates that the orientation of the magnetic field has changed direction and is now more-or-less aligned with that in the interstellar medium.

While Faraday effects predict that the rotation of the plane of polarization is proportional to $`\lambda ^2`$, the validity of the $`\lambda ^2`$ dependence has been questioned by O’Dea (1989). He presents polarization observations of fifteen core-dominated quasars, arguing that poor fits to the PA vs. $`\lambda ^2`$ data for six of the quasars cannot be due to large apparent RM values combined with ambiguities of $`n\pi `$, but rather can be accounted for by wavelength-dependent polarization structure. A similar situation may well apply to GRO J1655$``$40. The upper panel of Figure 7 shows a least-squares fit to the polarization data on days TJD 9588.60 and 9590.53, which resulted in $`\mathrm{PA}_0=47.5^{}`$, $`\mathrm{RM}=56.4`$ rad m-2 and $`\mathrm{PA}_0=38.2^{}`$, $`\mathrm{RM}=63.5`$ rad m-2 respectively. Both fits appear secure.

In contrast, the lower panel of Figure 7 shows an example of PA vs. $`\lambda ^2`$ for GRO J1655$``$40 on TJD 9589.53, where $`\pi `$ has been added to both the 1.4 and 2.3 GHz data points (open circles). A least-squares fit to the data (solid line) yielded $`\mathrm{PA}_0=26.1^{}`$, $`\mathrm{RM}=65.5`$ rad m-2, and a large reduced $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^2`$ of 12.8 for 4 d.o.f. We tried to accommodate the high frequency points by adding $`4\pi `$ and $`2\pi `$ to the 1.4 and 2.3 GHz data respectively (filled circles) and obtained $`\mathrm{PA}_0=5.8^{}`$, $`\mathrm{RM}=282.9`$ rad m-2 (dotted line) and an improved $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^2`$ of 5.3. However, these fitted parameters are so inconsistent with the values obtained on TJD 9588.60 and 9590.53 (with $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^2`$ values of 0.31 and 0.05 respectively) that they seem implausible. Hence, we conclude that the discrepancies seen in the high frequency points on TJD 9589.53, especially those at 8.6 and 9.2 GHz, are due to wavelength dependent polarization structure in the source. Considering that GRO J1655$``$40 is a complex time-variable source, and that the observations are integrations over multiple evolving ejecta, a poor fit to a simple $`\lambda ^2`$ dependence is perhaps to be expected.

## 5 Spectra

### 5.1 Spectral indices

To fully investigate the evolution of the radio spectrum, two sets of spectral indices were considered: the first set covers the entire MOST/HartRAO monitoring period, from TJD $`9580`$–9618, while the second set concentrates on the ATCA data which, due to better sampling, show more detail but for a shorter period of time. Two-point spectral indices $`\alpha `$ were calculated, assuming spectra of the form $`S_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$. To examine the spectral evolution more closely, low- and high-frequency spectral indices were calculated separately. For the MOST/HartRAO data these consisted of the 843 MHz–5 GHz ($`\alpha _{0.85}`$) and 5–8.58 GHz ($`\alpha _{58.5}`$) bands, while for the ATCA observations the data were divided into the 1.4–2.3 GHz ($`\alpha _{1.42.3}`$) and 4.8–8.6 GHz ($`\alpha _{4.88.6}`$) bands. In addition, a ‘global’ spectral index was obtained from the MOST 843 MHz and HartRAO 8.58 GHz data ($`\alpha _{0.88.5}`$) and the MOST and ATCA 9.2 GHz data ($`\alpha _{0.89.2}`$).

The single-dish HartRAO flux densities are less accurate than those from the ATCA (and the VLA) and will be affected by confusing sources in the beam; an image of the field of GRO J1655$``$40 is shown in Hunstead et al. (1997). On the other hand, the HartRAO data span a wider time interval than the ATCA and fill in vital gaps in the VLA light curves. Furthermore, while confusion will affect the spectral indices systematically, trends with time will be preserved.

#### 5.1.1 MOST and HartRAO

The lower panel in Figure 2 shows the spectral indices from the MOST and HartRAO data plotted as a function of time. The MOST and HartRAO 8.58 GHz data points were interpolated to the HartRAO 5 GHz epochs. Between TJD 9580–9593 and TJD 9610.5–9616 only the global $`\alpha _{0.88.5}`$ spectral index is plotted, while from TJD 9593 to 9610, $`\alpha _{0.85}`$ and $`\alpha _{58.5}`$ are plotted separately. Prior to TJD 9593, $`\alpha _{0.88.5}`$ ranges between $`0.6`$ and $`0.4`$, whereas after TJD 9610 the spectrum is slightly flatter overall with $`\alpha _{0.88.5}0.3`$. At the time of the vla3 ejection event (TJD $`9596`$), the 5–8.58 GHz spectrum inverts to $`\alpha _{58.5}+0.25`$ (with a large uncertainty); this mini-outburst is also seen in the VLA data (HR (95)), most notably at 15 and 22 GHz. The 5–8.58 GHz spectral index then returns to the pre-outburst value at TJD $`9600`$. A second outburst, also recorded by the VLA, occurs a few days later, with $`\alpha _{58.5}`$ peaking at $`+0.4`$ at TJD $`9607`$ and steepening soon thereafter. The inversion of the spectrum, indicating the emergence of an optically thick component, is consistent with the vlba2 ejection event; the precise time correspondence is, however, uncertain because neither the HartRAO nor VLA dataset covers the critical interval TJD 9601–9606.

#### 5.1.2 MOST and ATCA

Figure 8 shows the spectral indices obtained from the MOST/ATCA datasets plotted as a function of time. To calculate the 843 MHz–9.2 GHz index the MOST data points were interpolated to the 9.2 GHz epochs. The temporal evolution of the three datasets is similar, with $`\alpha _{0.89.2}`$ and $`\alpha _{1.42.3}`$ ranging from $`0.4`$ to $`0.6`$, while $`\alpha _{4.88.6}`$ (excluding the last two points at TJD 9596 and 9598) varies between $`0.5`$ and $`0.8`$, indicating that the high-frequency portion of the spectrum is consistently steeper. There is an overall steepening of the spectrum between TJD 9579 and 9582, as the source becomes optically thin at the lower frequencies. Immediately after this, the high-frequency spectral index begins to flatten and is followed by the lower frequencies on TJD $`9583`$; the light curves in Figure 3 shows a clear dip and rise at this epoch. This behavior is consistent with the ejection of an optically thick synchrotron component and points to an ejection epoch TJD $`9582`$, somewhat earlier than inferred for the vla2 event (HR (95)). The spectra are flattest on TJD $`9586`$, after which the spectrum steepens. Between TJD 9596.33 and 9598.07, $`\alpha _{4.88.6}`$ jumps from $``$0.87 to $``$0.21, coincident with the vla3 ejection episode; the corresponding increase in the 8.6 GHz flux density can be seen in Figure 3.

### 5.2 Linear polarization spectra

In Figure 9 we show a montage of overlaid plots of the total (I) and polarized (P) intensity spectra of GRO J1655$``$40. To construct the spectra, the flux densities at all frequencies, including 843 MHz (but without polarization), were interpolated to the epochs of the ATCA 9.2 GHz observations. The P spectra, in particular, are especially valuable as diagnostics of ejection events and their evolution with time. We now discuss these spectra in conjunction with the overlaid fractional polarization plot in Figure 4 and the light curves in Figure 3.

On the first day, TJD 9579.6 (four observations spanning two hours), the P spectrum is strongly inverted and the I spectrum shows spectral flattening at the low frequencies. On the following day TJD 9580.50, the I spectrum has become essentially a power law. The P spectrum shows a marked increase at 2.3 GHz but is still optically thick at 1.4 GHz. By TJD 9581.64, near the peak in total intensity, the P spectrum has flattened, with signs of an upturn at the highest frequencies signalling another ejection (E1). The following four P spectra, spanning TJD 9582.17–9583.59, trace a steady increase in the polarized flux density at the lower frequencies, a pattern which is qualitatively consistent with the expansion of the synchrotron-emitting region(s).

At TJD 9584.63 the P spectrum is still not completely transparent at the lower frequencies but has steepened markedly at the higher frequencies, with signs of a new component (E2) appearing at 8.6 and 9.2 GHz. The development of this new component over the next three days is again consistent with the expected trend for an expanding, optically-thick synchrotron bubble. Over this same time interval the low frequency P spectrum has become optically thin. Between TJD 9587.62 and 9588.62 we interpret the persistently high level of P for frequencies $`4.8`$ GHz as indicating yet another ejection event, even though there is no perceptible change in the total flux density.

From TJD 9588.62 to 9589.55 there is an interesting transition. At all frequencies the total flux density from TJD 9589.55–9591.37 lies well above an extrapolation of the exponential decay seen over the previous four days (Fig. 3), implying that a flat-spectrum component has been introduced. A simultaneous flux density increase across the spectrum is not a characteristic of the synchrotron bubble model, so an alternative interpretation must be sought.

Accompanying the flux density increase at TJD 9589.55 is a sharp decrease in the high-frequency polarized flux density and fractional polarization which occurs simultaneously at the four frequencies $`4.8`$ GHz. The high-frequency polarized flux ‘reappears’ on TJD 9590.55 and 9591.37 but is quenched again in the same fashion two days later on TJD 9593.36. We put forward a speculative but self-consistent explanation of this behavior in Section 7.

## 6 Comparison with the VLA/VLBA

In Sections 3, 4 and 5 we have described various aspects of the radio behavior of GRO J1655$``$40 as observed with the MOST, ATCA and HartRAO. We now discuss this behavior in the light of the images and light curves recorded with the VLA and VLBA (HR (95)).

The light curves presented here (Figs. 1–3) are completely consistent with those produced at the VLA (HR95), with an outburst peaking on $`\mathrm{TJD}9582`$ followed by a more-or-less exponential decay. Due to sparser temporal coverage the VLA did not record the two short duration outbursts clearly observed with MOST (S1 and S2) and HartRAO (S2 only).

As discussed in Section 5.2, the ATCA linear polarization spectra (Fig. 9) seem to give the clearest indication of plasmon ejection and expansion. The E1 event is probably composed of several short-lived contributions, beginning at $`\mathrm{TJD}9580`$, and possibly associated with ejection event vla1 on TJD 9578. The vla2 event (HR (95)), originating at TJD 9584, is not well defined because of the 6-day gap in VLA coverage from TJD 9583 to 9589. It was noted previously (Section 5.1.2) that the overall spectral indices pointed towards a major outburst beginning near TJD 9582. This interpretation is supported by our polarization spectra which suggest that events beginning near TJD 9581.6 and 9584.6 may be confusing the interpretation of the component positions recorded later by the VLA.

Both the vla3 and vlba2 events are well traced and supported by our spectral index plots in Figure 2 and Figure 8. It is worth noting, however, that the steepness of the high-frequency P and I spectra in the last panel in Figure 9 suggests that the vla3 event began after TJD 9596.32.

## 7 Physical Interpretation

The radio emission from candidate black hole binaries is usually attributed to optically thin synchrotron emission or thermal free-free emission. The former explains the steep high frequency part of the power-law spectrum, while the latter is invoked if the spectrum is flat, extending to high frequency.

### 7.1 Polarization and the Synchrotron Bubble Model

In the simple synchrotron bubble model (e.g. Hjellming & Johnston 1988; Ball & Vlassis 1993) the emission region is a homogeneous spherical, expanding plasma cloud, composed of relativistic electrons and embedded in a magnetic field. As the cloud (bubble) expands adiabatically, the synchrotron emission from it becomes optically thin at progressively lower frequencies. A natural consequence, therefore, is that the total intensity I and fractional polarization P/I will peak first at high frequency and later, with smaller amplitude, at lower frequencies.

How well does this model describe the observed properties of GRO J1655$``$40? To begin with, the radio emission is strongly polarized, giving direct evidence for the presence of synchrotron emission (Fig. 4). During event E1, P/I peaks at 9.2 and 8.6 GHz ahead of 5.9 GHz and 4.8 GHz. In addition, the maximum values of P/I at the high frequencies are larger than those at the lower frequencies, the only exception being the 1.4 GHz P/I which is explained as a blend of contributions from several outbursts. Event E2 displays a similar pattern. While these characteristics are in qualitative agreement with the synchrotron bubble model, after event E2 the P/I values at 4.8–9.2 GHz reached a minimum at almost the same time, which is not predicted. Thereafter, during event E3, P and P/I rise and fall simultaneously at 4.8–9.2 GHz, again contrary to model predictions. The polarization spectra (Section 5.2, Figure 9) paint a similar picture. Lack of compliance with the synchrotron bubble model is perhaps not surprising considering the complex collimated structures revealed by the VLBA observations (HR95) and the simplicity of the model itself.

### 7.2 “Core-Lobe” Model

As polarization is detected, we cannot dismiss the contribution from synchrotron emission. However, we have shown that the synchrotron bubble model cannot provide a satisfactory explanation for the time evolution of the total intensity spectrum or the polarization in GRO J1655$``$40. As a modification, we propose a new model which takes into account the fact that VLBI observations of GRO J1655$``$40 have shown multiple, time-varying emission regions (HR 95, Tingay et al. 1995). A hybrid model which brings in other emission mechanisms is therefore worth exploring for this very complex system.

There are two examples in the literature where multiple components have been invoked to explain the light curves and/or polarization: V404 Cyg (Han & Hjellming (1992)) and GRS 1915$`+`$105 (Fender et al. 1999).

* The X-ray transient, V404 Cyg (Han & Hjellming (1992)), shows time-dependent polarization properties similar to those seen in GRO J1655$``$40, including little variation in polarization position angle over the 50-day monitoring period. However, in contrast to GRO J1655$``$40, V404 Cyg showed a rapid initial decay, in which the spectrum was optically-thin, followed by a much slower decline during which the radio spectrum remained flat or inverted. Han & Hjellming (1992) interpret this behavior as requiring at least two radiating components.
* During a series of major ejection events in the superluminal jet X-ray binary, GRS 1915$`+`$105, recorded at high angular resolution with MERLIN, Fender et al. (1999) reported that the (stationary) core did not show any significant polarization, even though the approaching component was significantly polarized. They note that the core emission was dominated by flat spectrum oscillations and attribute the lack of polarization to either the superposition of multiple components with different polarization position angles, or to large Faraday depolarization close to the binary system.

In our hybrid model for GRO J1655$``$40 we assume that the emission regions consist of a ‘core’ (an extended plasma cloud surrounding the central source) and ‘lobes’ (the expanding plasmons or ejecta). The core represents the ejecta when they are localized near the binary; it is therefore dense and compact, and unresolved in the VLBA image. For a beamwidth $``$15 mas and an estimated distance of $`3`$ kpc (HR95), we estimate that the corresponding size of the emitting region should be $`10^{14}`$ cm. Synchrotron emission is inefficient in the core, because of strong self-absorption. During the initial stage of ejection, the core is most compact and the electron density is highest, making free-free emission a very efficient process. The electrons in the ejecta are presumably accelerated by some non-thermal (magnetic) processes near the black hole, so their energy distribution will have a non-Maxwellian component giving rise to non-thermal free-free emission. If the density in the core is sufficiently high to allow particle collisions, a sub-population of electrons with a Maxwellian distribution will result. These electrons will emit thermal free-free emission.

When the ejecta leave the immediate environment of the binary and expand to form the lobes, which are then resolved in the radio images, they eventually become transparent to synchrotron emission. Moreover, when the density drops, free-free emission becomes less efficient, leaving synchrotron emission, which is no longer self absorbed, as the dominant mechanism for energy loss.

According to this model, events E1 and E2 can be understood as two consecutive episodes of mass ejection. During the onset of the ejection, the lobes and the core are not actually separable. As the emission region is compact, the synchrotron emission is self-absorbed. There is also a free-free component. Hence the overall spectrum shows a turn-over, with the critical frequency determined jointly by the emissivities of the synchrotron and free-free processes. When the individual plasma bubbles begin to separate from the core and expand, their free-free emission becomes unimportant. Moreover, they become progressively transparent to synchrotron emission, first at the high frequencies and then at the low. The emission from the compact core, on the other hand, may still be dominated by free-free emission, which is weak in comparison with the synchrotron emission from the expanding lobes.

Free-free emission has a flat spectrum, and so any free-free emission from the core does not contribute significantly to the low frequency part of the overall spectrum. For most of the time, therefore, the spectral properties and polarization at low frequency are characterized by the synchrotron emission from the ejecta, especially when that emission peaks. However, if the synchrotron component has declined substantially, or there is a substantial brightening in the emission from the core, the spectral index and the fractional polarization will both be affected, becoming observable first at the high frequencies and then at the lower frequencies. The simultaneous occurrence of the minima in P/I between events E2 and E3, together with the simultaneous rise and fall in P/I at the four higher frequencies during event E3, can be readily explained by dilution of the synchrotron emission by a varying free-free contribution from the core. The magnetic field disruption resulting from core-brightening episodes may also explain the apparently anomalous polarization position angles (Fig. 6) at TJD 9589.55, 9593.36, 9596.32 and 9598.07.

A free-free core component can also explain the polarization spectra for $`\mathrm{TJD}>9588.6`$. Consideration of the timescales evident in Figure 9, and the VLBI structures (HR (95), Tingay et al. (1995)), tells us that the polarized emission at low frequency comes from regions well away from the core, whereas the high-frequency polarized emission is concentrated close to the core. A sudden increase in the size or electron density in the core will therefore have a significant impact on P at high frequency and little or no effect at low frequency, which seems to explain qualitatively what occurs in the transition between TJD 9588.62 and 9589.55 (Fig. 9). We note that a small but significant upturn in P at TJD 9589.55 between 8.6 and 9.2 GHz probably signals a new ejection event. The following days, TJD 9590.55 and 9591.37, see an increase in the polarized flux at high frequency, presumably because the ejecta have moved outside the region of core absorption. Interpretation of the last two panels in Figure 9 is complicated by the poorer time sampling, but it is plausible that a similar series of events follows the minimum in P and P/I at TJD 9593.36.

Although the hybrid ‘core-lobe’ model has provided a more satisfactory explanation for the radio emission from GRO J1655$``$40 during the 1994 ejection episodes, we emphasize that the model is only qualitative at this stage. Further work is necessary to quantify the model, so that fits to the data can be carried out.

## 8 Summary and conclusions

As Figure 1 shows, there is a relationship between the hard X-ray and radio emission from GRO J1655$``$40. The ejection episodes traced by the VLBA both originated during enhanced activity in the hard X-rays, and preceded the radio outbursts recorded with the MOST, suggesting a connection between activity near the event horizon of the black hole and the production of relativistic electrons. One possible explanation for the decline in intensity of the radio outbursts with time could be that the first ejection occurred in an environment that was relatively undisturbed, whereas the subsequent outbursts will have taken place in an environment already disrupted by previous activity (Hjellming et al. (1996)). The implications of the X-ray/radio correlations have been discussed elsewhere (e.g. Harmon et al. (1995)), with a general consensus that the hard X-rays may be indicating enhanced accretion near the black hole which, through processes still not well understood, triggers the formation of relativistic radio jets.

In general the ATCA, MOST and HartRAO flux density light curves agree well with the VLA light curves and ejection epochs reported in HR95. However, the better time sampling in Figures 2 and 3 reveals the presence of short-lived events that were not recorded by the VLA or VLBA, and shows that the light curves do not decay as smooth exponentials. The radio spectra, especially the linear polarization spectra, have proved to be valuable diagnostics of the timing of plasmon ejection events and their subsequent evolution.

The ATCA polarization data show that the magnetic field is aligned at right angles to the radio jets (jet $`\mathrm{PA}=47\pm 1^{}`$), except towards the end of the monitoring period when core contributions may have become important. The rotation measure initially shows a contribution local to the GRO J1655$``$40 system, but after TJD 9582.5, the rotation measure is roughly constant at $``$60 rad m-2 which must correspond to the interstellar value.

After examining the time evolution of the total and polarized flux density of GRO J1655$``$40 we conclude that there are specific aspects of the behavior which cannot be explained by the simple synchrotron bubble model. We therefore invoke a hybrid ‘core-lobe’ model, with a core which emits by non-thermal (or maybe thermal) free-free emission and lobes which are classical synchrotron emitters. We suggest that a similar model may apply to the other Galactic superluminal jet X-ray binary, GRS 1915+105.

The Australia Telescope Compact Array is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. MOST is operated by the University of Sydney and funded by grants from the Australian Research Council. KW acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council through an Australian Research Fellowship. DM acknowledges support for his research by the European Union under contract FMGECT950012, and thanks N.P.F. McKay and M.J. Kesteven for assisting with the ATCA observations. DH acknowledges financial support from the Academy of Finland. The director of HartRAO, G. Nicolson, is thanked for the allocation of observing time that made this project possible. We thank T. Ye for assistance with the MOST data reduction, and J-P Macquart for his invaluable help in checking some of the position angle fits.


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# References

The $`\eta \eta `$ , $`\eta \eta ^{}`$ and $`\eta ^{}\eta ^{}`$ channels are important for the determination of the gluonic content of mesons, since it is thought likely that glueballs will decay with the emission of $`\eta `$s and $`\eta ^{}`$. In addition, central production is proposed as a good place to produce glueballs via Double Pomeron Exchange (DPE) . Hence the interest of the present paper which studies the centrally produced $`\eta \eta `$ system.

The $`\eta \eta `$ channel has been studied previously in radiative $`J/\psi `$ decays by the Crystal Ball experiment , in $`\pi ^{}p`$ interactions by the NA12 experiment , in central production by NA12/2  and in $`p\overline{p}`$ annihilations by the Crystal Barrel Collaboration  and E760 at Fermilab . In all these reactions evidence for the $`f_0(1500)`$ has emerged. In addition, in $`p\overline{p}`$ annihilation evidence is claimed for a $`f_0(2100)`$  and an $`\eta \eta `$ decay mode of the $`f_2(1950)`$ . In $`\pi ^{}p`$ interactions the NA12 experiment claim a $`f_0(2000)`$ . In radiative $`J/\psi `$ decays evidence was reported for the $`f_J(1710)`$ . In central production the NA12/2 experiment claimed evidence for a $`f_2(2175)`$ .

In this paper a study is presented of the $`\eta \eta `$ final state formed in the reaction

$$ppp_f(\eta \eta )p_s$$
(1)
at 450 GeV/c. It represents more than a factor of 6 increase in statistics over the only other data on the centrally produced $`\eta \eta `$ final state  and moreover will present the first partial wave analysis of this channel in central production. The data come from the WA102 experiment which has been performed using the CERN Omega Spectrometer, the layout of which is described in ref. . Reaction (1) has been isolated using the following decay modes:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\eta \gamma \gamma & \eta \gamma \gamma \\ \eta \gamma \gamma & \eta \pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0\\ \eta \pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0& \eta \pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0\end{array}$$

The above decay modes account for 38.8 % of the total.

Fig. 1a) shows a scatter plot of $`M(\gamma \gamma )`$ versus $`M(\gamma \gamma )`$ which has been extracted from the sample of events having two outgoing charged tracks and four $`\gamma `$s reconstructed in the GAMS-4000 calorimeter using momentum and energy balance. A clear signal of the $`\eta \eta `$ channel can be observed. Fig. 1b) shows the $`\gamma \gamma `$ mass spectrum if the other $`\gamma \gamma `$ pair is compatible with being an $`\eta `$ (0.48 $``$ M($`\gamma \gamma `$$``$ 0.62 GeV) where a clear $`\eta `$ signal can be observed. The $`\eta \eta `$ final state has been selected using the mass cuts described above.

Fig. 1c) shows a scatter plot of $`M(\gamma \gamma )`$ versus M($`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0)`$ for the sample of events having four outgoing charged tracks and four $`\gamma `$s reconstructed in the GAMS-4000 calorimeter after imposing momentum and energy balance. A clear signal of the $`\eta \eta `$ channel can be observed. Fig. 1d) shows the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$ mass spectrum if the $`\gamma \gamma `$ mass is compatible with being an $`\eta `$ (0.48 $``$ M($`\gamma \gamma `$$``$ 0.62 GeV) and fig 1e) shows the $`\gamma \gamma `$ mass spectrum if the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$ mass is compatible with being an $`\eta `$ (0.52 $``$ M($`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$$``$ 0.58 GeV). The $`\eta \eta `$ final state has been selected by requiring that 0.48 $``$ M($`\gamma \gamma `$$``$ 0.62 GeV and 0.52 $``$ M($`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$$``$ 0.58 GeV.

Fig. 1f) shows a scatter plot of $`M(\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0)`$ versus $`M(\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0)`$ for the the sample of events having six outgoing charged tracks and four $`\gamma `$s reconstructed in the GAMS-4000 calorimeter after imposing momentum and energy balance. A signal of the $`\eta \eta `$ channel can be observed. Fig. 1g) shows the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$ mass spectrum if the other $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$ combination has a mass compatible with being an $`\eta `$ (0.52 $``$ M($`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$$``$ 0.58 GeV). The $`\eta \eta `$ final state has been selected using the mass cuts described above.

The background below the $`\eta `$ signal has several sources including combinatorics, fake gammas and other channels. The combinatorial background is removed, in part, in the selection procedure. The remaining background varies from 16 % to 32 % dependent on the decay topology. Three methods have been used to determine the effects of this background; studying the side bands around the $`\eta `$ signal, studying events that do not balance momentum and using event mixing. All three methods give a similar background which peaks near threshold in the $`\eta \eta `$ mass spectrum. To illustrate this point, superimposed on figs. 1b), d), e) and g) as a shaded histogram are the respective mass distributions when the central system has a mass greater than 1.3 GeV. As can be seen the background below the $`\eta `$ signal is reduced with respect to the total sample. In the remainder of this paper the method used to determine the background will be the one using events that do not balance momentum. The resulting distributions well represent the background in the data.

The $`\eta \eta `$ mass spectra from each decay mode are very similar and the combined mass spectrum is shown in fig. 2a) and consists of 3351 events. Superimposed on the mass spectrum as a shaded histogram is the estimate of the background. Fig. 2b) shows the background subtracted mass spectrum. The mass spectrum has a threshold enhancement and has peaks at 1.5 and 2.1 GeV and a shoulder in the 1.7 GeV region. Superimposed on fig 2b) as a shaded histogram is the expected contribution from the $`f_2(1270)`$ (47 events) and $`f_2^{}(1525)`$ (3 events) using the observed $`f_2(1270)`$ signal in the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ final state , the observed $`f_2^{}(1525)`$ signal in the $`K^+K^{}`$ final state  and correcting for the experimental acceptance and using the PDG  branching ratios. As can be seen the majority of the signal at 1.5 GeV is not due to the $`f_2^{}(1525)`$.

A Partial Wave Analysis (PWA) of the centrally produced $`\eta \eta `$ system has been performed assuming the $`\eta \eta `$ system is produced by the collision of two particles (referred to as exchanged particles) emitted by the scattered protons. The $`z`$ axis is defined by the momentum vector of the exchanged particle with the greatest four-momentum transferred in the $`\eta \eta `$ centre of mass. The $`y`$ axis is defined by the cross product of the momentum vectors of the two exchanged particles in the $`pp`$ centre of mass. The two variables needed to specify the decay process were taken as the polar and azimuthal angles ($`\theta `$, $`\varphi `$) of one of the $`\eta `$s in the $`\eta \eta `$ centre of mass relative to the coordinate system described above.

The acceptance corrected moments $`\sqrt{4\pi }t_{LM}`$, defined by

$$I(\mathrm{\Omega })=\underset{L}{}t_{L0}Y_L^0(\mathrm{\Omega })+2\underset{L,M>0}{}t_{LM}Re\{Y_L^M(\mathrm{\Omega })\}$$

have been rescaled to the total number of observed events and are shown in fig. 3. The moments with $`M>2`$ and all the moments with $`L>4`$ (e.g. the $`t_{44}`$ and $`t_{60}`$ moments shown in fig. 3) are small and hence only partial waves with spin $`l=0`$ and 2 and absolute values of spin $`z`$-projection $`m1`$ have been included in the PWA.

The amplitudes used for the PWA are defined in the reflectivity basis . In this basis the angular distribution is given by a sum of two non-interfering terms corresponding to negative and positive values of reflectivity. The waves used were of the form $`J_m^\epsilon `$ with $`J`$ $`=`$ $`S`$ and $`D`$, $`m`$ $`=`$ $`0,1`$ and reflectivity $`\epsilon `$ = $`\pm 1`$. The expressions relating the moments ($`t_{LM}`$) and the waves ($`J_m^\epsilon `$) are given in ref.. Since the overall phase for each reflectivity is indeterminate, one wave in each reflectivity can be set to be real ($`S_0^{}`$ and $`D_1^+`$ for example) and hence two phases can be set to zero ($`\varphi _{S_0^{}}`$ and $`\varphi _{D_1^+}`$ have been chosen). This results in 6 parameters to be determined from the fit to the angular distributions.

The PWA has been performed independently in 80 MeV intervals of the $`\eta \eta `$ mass spectrum. In each mass an event-by-event maximum likelihood method has been used. The function

$$F=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}ln\{I(\mathrm{\Omega })\}+\underset{L,M}{}t_{LM}ϵ_{LM}$$
(2)
has been minimised, where $`N`$ is the number of events in a given mass bin, $`ϵ_{LM}`$ are the efficiency corrections calculated in the centre of the bin and $`t_{LM}`$ are the moments of the angular distribution. The moments calculated from the partial amplitudes are shown superimposed as histograms on the experimental moments in fig 3. As can be seen the results of the fit reproduce well the experimental moments.

The system of equations which express the moments via the partial wave amplitudes is non-linear which leads to inherent ambiguities. For a system with S and D waves there are two solutions for each mass bin. In each mass bin one of these solutions is found from the fit to the experimental angular distributions, the other one can then be calculated by the method described in ref. . In the case under study the bootstrapping procedure is trivial because the Barrelet function has only two roots ($`Z_i`$ with $`i`$ = 1,2) and their real and imaginary parts do not cross zero as functions of mass, as seen in fig 2c) and d). In order to link the solutions in adjacent mass bins, the real parts of the roots are sorted in each mass bin in such a way that the real part of the first root should be larger than the real part of the second root (real parts of the two roots have different signs). For the first solution the imaginary parts of both roots are taken positive, the second solution is obtained by complex conjugation of one of the roots.

In this case two different PWA solutions are found. One solution is dominated by the S-wave the other solution has the events split between the different D-waves. By definition both solutions give identical moments and identical values of the likelihood. A Monte Carlo study has shown that if the input distribution is really dominated by a D-wave (i.e. $`D_0^{}`$, $`D_1^{}`$ or $`D_1^+`$) then both solutions of the PWA will be dominated by that D-wave. However, if the input distribution is dominated by the S-wave then two different solutions will result. One of the PWA solutions will be dominated by the S-wave, the other solution will be split equally between the D-waves and hence the physical solution can still be determined. The physical solution is shown in fig. 4. The $`S_0^{}`$-wave for the physical solution is characterised by a broad enhancement at threshold and a peak at 1.5 GeV. A broad enhancement is also seen in the $`D_0^{}`$-wave at 2.1 GeV. Superimposed on the waves as a histogram is the result of running the PWA on the background events.

Fig. 5 shows the background subtracted $`S_0^{}`$ and $`D_0^{}`$ waves. The PWA analysis has also been performed by extending the likelihood function given in equation (2) to include the background subtraction, namely

$$F=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}ln\{I(\mathrm{\Omega })\}+\underset{L,M}{}t_{LM}ϵ_{LM}+\underset{i=1}{\overset{N_{bg}}{}}ln\{I(\mathrm{\Omega })\}$$

where $`N_{bg}`$ is the number of background events. Since the background is dominantly S-wave the results of this method are similar to those shown in fig. 5.

The $`S_0^{}`$-wave has been fitted using a K-matrix parameterisation similar to that used to fit the $`K^+K^{}`$ spectrum  with the addition of an incoherent background term. Poles have been introduced to describe the $`f_0(1370)`$, $`f_0(1500)`$ and $`f_0(1710)`$ with parameters fixed to those found from the coupled channel fit to the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^+K^{}`$ spectra , namely M($`f_0(1370)`$) = 1312 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_0(1370))`$ = 218 MeV, M($`f_0(1500)`$) = 1502 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_0(1500))`$ = 98 MeV and M($`f_0(1710)`$) = 1727 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_0(1710))`$ = 126 MeV. The fit describes well the data but, due to the size of the errors, it is not possible to conclude about the need for a further resonance above 2 GeV. The inclusion of the $`f_0(1710)`$ is essential to describe the spectrum.

The $`D_0^{}`$ wave has been fitted using two spin 2 relativistic Breit-Wigners and a linear background. The first Breit-Wigner is used to describe the $`f_2(1270)`$ with mass and width fixed to the PDG values  and the second to describe the peak at 2.1 GeV where we have used M = 2130 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 270 MeV which are the parameters found for $`f_2(2150)`$ observed in the $`K^+K^{}`$ final state . As can be seen the fit well describes the data. This state is compatible with the $`f_2(2175)`$ previously observed by the NA12/2 experiment in the $`\eta \eta `$ final state .

The error bars introduced by the partial wave analysis do not allow the parameters of the resonances to be determined from a free fit to the waves. Instead, we have performed a fit to the total mass spectrum shown in fig. 2b) using an incoherent sum of the expressions used to fit the $`S_0^{}`$ and $`D_0^{}`$ waves. The parameters for the $`f_0(1370)`$ and $`f_2(1270)`$ have been fixed to the values used above. The fit is shown superimposed on fig. 2b) and for the scalar resonances yields sheet II T-Matrix poles  at

| $`f_0(1500)`$ | M | = | (1510 | $`\pm `$ | $`\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}8}`$) | $`i`$ | ($`\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}55}`$ | $`\pm `$ | $`\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}8}`$) | MeV |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`f_0(1710)`$ | M | = | (1698 | $`\pm `$ | 18) | $`i`$ | ($`\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}60}`$ | $`\pm `$ | $`13`$) | MeV |

These parameters are consistent with the PDG  values for these resonances and our previous fits . For the $`f_2(2150)`$ the fit gives

| $`f_2(2150)`$ | M | = | 2151 | $`\pm `$ | 16 | MeV, | $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ | = | 280 | $`\pm `$ | 70 | MeV. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

The parameters found are compatible with those from the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel .

After correcting for the unseen decay modes and using data from the previously observed $`\pi \pi `$  final state the branching ratio $`\eta \eta `$ /$`\pi \pi `$ has been calculated for the $`f_0(1500)`$ from the fit to the $`S_0^{}`$ wave and gives :

$$\frac{f_0(1500)\eta \eta }{f_0(1500)\pi \pi }=0.18\pm 0.03$$

This value agrees well with the value that can be derived from the PDG  of 0.23 $`\pm `$ 0.10.

For the $`f_2(1270)`$ the ratio is

$$\frac{f_2(1270)\eta \eta }{f_2(1270)\pi \pi }=(3\pm 1)\times 10^3$$

which is compatible with the PDG  value.

For the $`f_0(1500)`$, $`f_0(1710)`$ and $`f_2(2150)`$ the branching ratio $`\eta \eta `$ /$`K\overline{K}`$ has been calculated from the WA102 data to be:

$$\frac{f_0(1500)\eta \eta }{f_0(1500)K\overline{K}}=0.54\pm 0.12$$

$$\frac{f_0(1710)\eta \eta }{f_0(1710)K\overline{K}}=0.48\pm 0.15$$

$$\frac{f_2(2150)\eta \eta }{f_2(2150)K\overline{K}}=0.78\pm 0.14$$

The branching ratios for the $`f_0(1500)`$, $`f_0(1710)`$ and $`f_2(2150)`$ differ from that of a known $`s\overline{s}`$ state, the $`f_2^{}(1525)`$, which has a ratio of 0.12 $`\pm `$ 0.04  which is consistent with the SU(3) prediction for such a state . No signal is seen for the $`f_2^{}(1525)`$ in the $`\eta \eta `$ final state of WA102 and an upper limit for its decay to this channel has been calculated, which gives

$$\frac{f_2^{}(1525)\eta \eta }{f_2^{}(1525)K\overline{K}}<0.14(90\%CL)$$

which is compatible with the PDG  value given above.

For the $`f_0(1370)`$ there is considerable uncertainty due to the background subtraction which mainly affects the $`S_0^{}`$ wave at threshold. The strongest $`f_0(1370)`$ signal has been observed in the $`4\pi `$ final state therefore the branching ratio $`\eta \eta `$ /$`4\pi `$ has been calculated to be

$$\frac{f_0(1370)\eta \eta }{f_0(1370)4\pi }=(4.7\pm 2)\times 10^3$$

which is compatible with the Crystal Barrel measurement of (1.7 $`\pm `$ 0.9)$`\times 10^3`$ .

In the D-waves there is no evidence for the $`f_2(1950)`$ which has been claimed to have been seen in the $`\eta \eta `$ final states formed in $`p\overline{p}`$ annihilations . Since the $`f_2(1950)`$ is clearly seen in the $`4\pi `$ final state of experiment WA102 , an upper limit for its decay to $`\eta \eta `$ has been calculated and gives

$$\frac{f_2(1950)\eta \eta }{f_2(1950)4\pi }<5.0\times 10^3(90\%CL)$$

Hence this would imply that if the observation in the $`\eta \eta `$ final state of $`p\overline{p}`$ annihilations is correct, then a very large signal for the $`f_2(1950)`$ should be seen in the $`4\pi `$ final state of the same experiment.

The $`f_0(1500)`$ has previously been observed in the $`\pi \pi `$ , $`K\overline{K}`$ , $`4\pi `$  and $`\eta \eta ^{}`$  final states of the WA102 experiment. The relative decay rates for the $`f_0(1500)`$ are calculated to be:

$$\pi \pi :K\overline{K}:\eta \eta :\eta \eta ^{}:4\pi =1:\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0.33}\pm 0.07:\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0.18}\pm 0.03:\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0.096}\pm 0.026:\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1.36}\pm 0.15$$

The $`f_0(1370)`$ is below $`\eta \eta ^{}`$ threshold. The remaining relative decay rates for the $`f_0(1370)`$ are:

$$\pi \pi :K\overline{K}:\eta \eta :4\pi =1:0.46\pm 0.19:0.16\pm 0.07:34.0_9^{+22}$$

No signal was observed for the $`f_0(1710)`$ in the $`4\pi `$  or the $`\eta \eta ^{}`$ channels . Therefore, an upper limit has been calculated for its decay to these final states. For the $`f_0(1710)`$ the relative decay rates are:

$$\pi \pi :K\overline{K}:\eta \eta :\eta \eta ^{}:4\pi =1:5.0\pm 0.7:2.4\pm 0.6:<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0.18}(90\%CL):<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}5.4}(90\%CL)$$

In summary, a partial wave analysis of the $`\eta \eta `$ channel has been performed for the first time in central production. Clear evidence is found for an $`\eta \eta `$ decay mode of the $`f_0(1500)`$, $`f_0(1710)`$ and $`f_2(2150)`$ and the decay branching ratios of these states have been determined.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported, in part, by grants from the British Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, the British Royal Society, the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan (grants no. 07044098 and 1004100), the French Programme International de Cooperation Scientifique (grant no. 576) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grants 96-15-96633 and 98-02-22032).

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5


text:
# Possibly interacting Vorontsov-Vel’yaminov galaxies

## 1 Introduction

Among the definitely interacting galaxies in close pairs or groups, many of which were discovered by Vorontsov-Vel’yaminov and included in his Atlas and Catalog of interacting galaxies (Vorontsov-Vel’yaminov, 1959, 1977) there are objects having VV numbers, in which the interaction is not so evident. Such objects were usually classified by Vorontsov-Vel’yaminov as the ”nests” or often similarly looking systems called ”chains” or ”pairs in contact”. He considered these objects as compact fragmenting systems, giving birth to young galaxies, but very soon observations showed that their nature may be different. Such systems can present both galaxies of strange and unusual shapes (either single objects or mergers), and really multiple systems, where it is hard to guess the number of components without detailed studies. In many cases only spectral measurements of their gas velocity distribution enable to prove or to disprove their solitude.

Earlier spectral observations confirmed that some VV systems actually present single dwarf galaxies with clumpy inner structure, resembling dwarf irregulars with multiple regions of active star formation (SF), or blue compact galaxies (BCGs) (Vorontsov-Vel’yaminov 1979a,b; Afanasiev et al. 1980; Arkhipova et al. 1981, 1987a,b,c). Only a few single nearby VV galaxies have been studied in detail (e.g. VV 556 $``$ GR 8, VV 499 $``$ DDO 053).

The important questions on the chemical abundances in the studied VV galaxies left outside the scope of these early observations. New opportunities appeared due to new CCD-detectors, which enable to realize high sensitivity and large dynamical range. It induced authors to return back to the study of ”nest-like” VV galaxies. Besides, many new observational data have appeared on many of these objects.

For the current study we selected more than twenty VV galaxies looking like multiple systems or singular irregular systems in the POSS/DSS 111DSS is Digital Sky Survey distributed by Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute images, for which such indicators of interaction as well defined tidal tails or bridges are absent. The main objectives of our investigation are:

– to clarify the distances, total luminosities and masses of those systems, systemic velocities of which are not known or badly known;

– to carry out high S/N ratio spectrophotometry in order to address problems of chemical abundances and evolutional status of these objects,

– to analyse the inner gas kinematics and structural properties of the objects.

Since many of VV galaxies in question are dwarfs with recent or current SF burst, it is also important to check possible companions which could exert strong enough tidal action.

In this paper, the first in the series, we present the results of recent long-slit spectroscopy for three VV objects: VV 432, VV 543 and VV 747 and the observation in HI-line of VV 747.

In section 2 we describe observations, data reduction, abundances determination and the measurements of velocity distribution of ionized gas along the slit.

Observations of VV 747 in the HI-line 21 cm and their results are presented in section 3. In section 4 we consider the individual properties of studied galaxies. Discussions and preliminary conclusions are presented in section 5. We adopt throughout the paper H$`{}_{0}{}^{}=`$75 km sec-1.

## 2 Spectral observations, data reduction and analysis

### 2.1 Observations

The spectroscopic data were obtained with the 6 m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of Russian Academy of Science (SAO RAS) during two runs in February and April 1999. The Long-Slit spectrograph (LSS in Table 1) (Afanasiev et al. Afanasiev95 (1995)) at the telescope prime focus was equipped with a Photometrics CCD-detector PM1024 (with $`24\times 24\mu `$m pixel size) (PMCCD in Table 1) installed at Schmidt-Cassegrain camera F/1.5. Most of the long-slit spectra ($`1.2\mathrm{}\times 180\mathrm{}`$) were obtained with the grating of 325 grooves/mm, giving a dispersion of 4.6 Å/pixel. Additional data were obtained with the grating of 1302 grooves/mm and dispersion 1.2 Å/pixel. For the latter set-up the slit of $`2\mathrm{}\times 180\mathrm{}`$ was used. The scale along the slit was 0.39$`\mathrm{}`$/pixel.

The resulting resolution (FWHM) was about $`1415`$ Å for the first set-up, and about 3.7 Å for the second set-up. Reference spectra of an Ar–Ne–He lamp were recorded before or after each observation to provide wavelength calibration. Spectrophotometric standard stars from Massey et al. (Massey88 (1988)) were observed for flux calibration at least twice a night.

Observations and data processing in this set-up have been conducted mainly under the software package NICE in MIDAS, described by Kniazev & Shergin (Kniazev95 (1995)).

### 2.2 Data reduction and abundances determination

The data reduction was performed in SAO RAS, using various packages of MIDAS (see Kniazev et al. (Kniazev2000 (2000)) for details).

In Table 2 we summarize the main observational parameters of the discussed three VV “nests”. They include the names of the objects, their coordinates for the epoch J2000, the apparent blue magnitudes and the corresponding references, the radial heliocentric velocities, measured in this work with their r.m.s. uncertainties, maximal angular sizes, absolute blue magnitudes and the oxygen abundances (12+log(O/H)).

Direct images of studied galaxies, extracted from the DSS and the position of long slit, indicated by bar are presented in Fig. 1a, 2a, 3a. Corresponding 2-D spectra are shown in Fig. 1c, 2c, 3c. The brightness profiles of H$`\alpha `$ line along the slit, and corresponding velocity curves are illustrated in Fig. 1b, 2b, 3b. In Fig. 1d, 2d, and 3d we present 1-D spectra, extracted from 2-D spectra, which were used for the measurements of line intensities, determination of physical conditions and abundances of Hii-regions.

The resulting observed emission line intensities $`F(\lambda )`$ of various ions relative to H$`\beta `$, both uncorrected and corrected for interstellar extinction and underlying stellar absorption $`I(\lambda )`$ (following the procedure described by Izotov et al. Izotov97 (1997)) for the brightest parts of the galaxies are presented in Tables 3 along with the extinction coefficient C(H$`\beta `$), the equivalent width of absorption Balmer hydrogen lines EW(abs), the equivalent width of H$`\beta `$ line EW(H$`\beta `$) and the observed H$`\beta `$ flux.

For the abundances determination we used the scheme, described in detail by Izotov et al. (Izotov94 (1994), Izotov97 (1997)). The electron temperatures and densities in Hii-regions of the observed VV-galaxies and their abundances of O, N and Ne are summarized in Table 4.

For VV 543 the \[Oiii\]-line 4363 Å is not detected. Therefore to estimate its metallicity we employ the empirical method (see e.g. Pagel et al. (Pagel79 (1979)), McGaugh (McGaugh91 (1991)) and Olofsson (Olofsson97 (1997))). Its uncertainty for 12+log(O/H) can be as large as 0.2–0.3 dex. We also applied this empirical method to all four individual knots of VV 432.

The ratio \[Oiii\]/\[Nii\] of extinction corrected intensities of the lines $`\lambda `$ 4959,5007 Å and $`\lambda `$ 6548,6584 Å enable one to avoid well known ambiguity of the empirical method (Alloin et al. Alloin79 (1979)). Taking into account these ratios, one can use $`R_{23}`$ and $`Q`$ parameters to get more reliable estimate of $`O/H`$ through the model curves by Olofsson (Olofsson97 (1997)). By this way it was obtained for VV 543W the abundance 12+log(O/H) = 8.5$`\pm `$0.1, which is about 0.3 lower than the value, derived from McGaugh (McGaugh91 (1991)) tracks, and seems to be in a better agreement with the abundance, expected for underluminous Hii-galaxies.

### 2.3 Velocity curves

To obtain line-of-sight velocity distribution along the slit we use the MIDAS programs, kindly presented to authors by D. Makarov.

To increase the accuracy of derived rotation curves the programs were modified to include additional corrections using close lines in the reference spectrum.

The procedure includes the following steps: 1) a linearisation of 2-D spectrum of the object and of the reference spectrum; 2) a measurement of the position of the H$`\alpha `$ emission for each of the 250 position rows using gaussian fitting; 3) an estimation of the background and S/N ratio for the H$`\alpha `$ emission in each row; 4) a similar measurement of the nearby line Nei $`\lambda `$ 6598.95 Å in the reference spectrum and compiling the table of differences between the laboratory wavelength of this line and the measured one for each row; 5) a polynomial fitting of these differences and a determination of the residual scattering (r.m.s.); 6) the application of this fitting polynomial to correct the measured wavelengths of H$`\alpha `$. The resulting error of wavelengths measurements is determined by quadratic summing of the fitting r.m.s., found in the previous step, and the measurement error of velocity for each point along the slit, estimated from gaussian fitting. The latter varies between 2.5 km s-1 for the points with the highest signal and 9 km s-1 for the points with low S/N ratio for dispersion 1.2 Å/pixel; 7) rebinning of H$`\alpha `$ data along the slit, corresponding to the seeing during the observations (4 or 5 pixels in April and February, respectively).

Below we use only those velocity estimates which satisfy the criteria S/N $`>`$ 3 and $`\sigma _V`$ $`<`$ 15 km s-1. Resulting high accuracy of corrected observed wavelength enables one to study irregularities of the velocity curve with an amplitude as low as 10 km s-1 on the angular scale up to 20″.

For VV 432, the rotation curves which were obtained with the low and high resolution spectra are presented in Fig. 1b. Their similarity shows that our low dispersion spectra can be used to derive preliminary dynamical parameters of the studied galaxies.

## 3 Hi data for VV 747

For VV 747, the interpretation of the optical data remains ambiguous regarding its multiplicity. (see Sect. 4.3). In order to settle this ambiguity we investigated the dynamical state of the system and performed single-dish Hi observations.

### 3.1 Observations and data reduction

The 21 cm Hi-line observations were carried out in July 1999 with the Nançay222The Nançay Radioastronomy Station is part of the Paris Observatory and is operated by the Ministère de l’Education Nationale and Institut des Sciences de l’Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. 300 m telescope (NRT). The NRT has a half-power beam width of 3.7 (EW) $`\times `$ 22 (NS) at the declination $`\delta =0^{}`$.

A dual polarization receiver has been used, with a system temperature of $``$ 40 K in the horizontal and vertical linear polarizations. The gain of the telescope was 1.1 K Jy-1 at a declination of $`\delta =0^{}`$. The observations were made in position switching mode with 1-minute on-source and 1-minute off-source integrations.

Since VV 747 had a known optical redshift, we split the autocorrelator into two, each bank covering a bandwidth of 6.4 MHz, and centred at the frequency corresponding to the optical redshift. The velocity coverage was 1 350 km s-1. The channel width was 2.6 km s-1 and after averaging pairs of adjacent channels the effective resolution was 6.3 km s-1.

The data has been reduced using the software developed by the telescope’s staff. Both polarization spectra were calibrated and processed independently, and were averaged to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Errors were calculated following Schneider et al. (Schneider86 (1986)).

### 3.2 Results. Hi-profile and its parameters

For the total integration time of 234 minutes (ON+OFF source) the r.m.s. noise is 4 mJy. The galaxy is detected with S/N ratio of 12. The spectrum is presented in Fig. 4. The line shape is close to gaussian and typical of low-mass galaxies. Its width at 50 % of peak W0.5 = 90 km s-1 is close to the median value of the distribution derived for the statistical sample of BCGs from the zone of the Second Byurakan Survey (SBS) by Thuan et al. (Thuan99 (1999)). The line width at 20 % of peak W$`{}_{0.2}{}^{}=117`$ km s-1 is very close to that of VV 432. This is important in the following discussion about the applicability of the Tully-Fisher relation (Tully77 (1977), hereafter TF) for the distance problem of the latter galaxy.

The Hi-mass of VV 747 of 0.8$`\times `$108 M, is typical of low luminosity gas-rich galaxies, like the ratio of the hydrogen mass over the blue luminosity: M(Hi)/L$`{}_{B}{}^{}=1.0`$.

## 4 Properties of individual galaxies

### 4.1 VV 432 = IC 3105 = UGC 7326

The first long-slit spectrum of this chain-like galaxy has been obtained along the major axis by Arkhipova et al. (Arkhipova81 (1981)). They revealed high-excitation spectrum of Hii-region in the NE region. The amplitude of the rotation curve has been found to be relatively small (less than about 60 km s-1).

Our long-slit spectrophotometry allowed to detect the NE Hii-region (knot “a” on Fig. 1) \[Oiii\]-line $`\lambda `$ 4363 Å with a good S/N ratio in both spectra. The first spectrum, obtained on February 12, 1999 covered the range 3600–8000 Å and the spectra taken on April 24, 1999 with a dispersion 1.2 Å/pixel, covered two separate ranges 4000–5200 Å and 6000–7200 Å. Table 3 presents the data for all measured emission lines. According to this table, the relative intensities of strong oxygen and hydrogen lines in both spectra are the same within 3%, in accordance with their internal errors. For the abundance derivation we supposed that, for the April spectra, the relative intensity of the \[Oii\]-line $`\lambda `$ 3727 Å and of the H$`\beta `$ line to be equal to those derived from the February spectrum.

Oxygen abundance determination gives consistent values for both data sets, so we accept the weighted mean of the two independent measurements. The resulting value of 12+log(O/H) = 7.58$`\pm `$0.06 obtained for this Hii-region appear to be very low.

Since the \[Oiii\]-line $`\lambda `$ 4363 Å was not detected in other emission-line knots, the oxygen abundances for knots “b”, “c” and “d” were estimated by the same empirical method mentioned in Sect. 2.3. The most uncertain parameter – the mean gas density – was assumed to be close to that found for knot “a”, what is about 1 atom cm-3 (the value, derived from the consistency of oxygen abundances, determined by classical and empirical methods). Oxygen abundances, found by the empirical method for this value of Ne for three knots, are consistent with the estimates, obtained for knot “a”, taking into account the uncertainties of parameter R23 and possible variations of the mean density Ne within the factor of 2.

This galaxy is elongated (the axial ratio of $`b/a`$ $``$ 1/3 according to LEDA)333LEDA is the acronym of Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database, http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr, which is not untypical for dwarf galaxies. It looks like an edge-on disk, bent on both NE and SW edges, which probably indicates a tidal action from some other galaxy. The bright Hii-region on the NE edge appears to be outside of the main body of the galaxy, and its connection to the disk is not evident, although a smooth velocity distribution along the galaxy favours its interpretation as a single object. Another possibility which cannot be excluded is that the outer knots are large SF regions at the ends of spiral arms, seen not exactly edge-on. However due to the rather small luminosity of VV 432, the presence of spiral arms is quite improbable.

Our long-slit spectrum with the dispersion of 1.2 Å/pixel allows to derive the rotation curve along the “disk”, using the H$`\alpha `$ line data (see Fig. 1b). A velocity gradient is well seen over the whole disk; there is no sign of flattening of the velocity curve on both NE and SW edges. The mean heliocentric velocity of the galaxy is $`160`$ km s-1. The amplitude of the rotation curve within the whole extent of H$`\alpha `$-emission of about 70′′ corresponds to the maximal rotational velocity of 40$`\pm `$5 km s-1. The expected inclination correction is very small, since the disk is seen at the inclination angle $`i>70^{}`$.

The uncertainties of the data points of the Fig. 1b’s velocity curve are small and remain in the range 4 to 15 km s-1. The irregularities which are seen on the rotation curve can then be considered as real ones, probably connected with the regions of active SF.

The galaxy is situated in the direction of Virgo cluster (VC), and is also catalogued as VCC 0241. Its negative radial velocity does not contradict its membership to the cluster (Binggeli et al. BPT93 (1993)). In this case, its distance is of $``$ 20.7 Mpc (distance modulus = 31.6 mag, Federspiel et al. (Federspiel98 (1998))). Its maximal diameter on the isophote $`\mu _B`$= 25$`{}_{}{}^{m}/\mathrm{}\mathrm{}`$ is 111$`\mathrm{}`$, according to LEDA, which corresponds to a linear size of about 11 kpc. The extent of the H$`\alpha `$ emission on our long-slit spectrum is of 70$`\mathrm{}`$, which gives the total extent of Hii-emission to be $``$ 6.8 kpc.

If VV 432 is a member of VC it appears to be the most metal-deficient known galaxy of this cluster (see for comparison the metallicity data of the VC BCGs in Izotov & Guseva (Izotov89 (1989))). Such low metallicity implies that the galaxy presumably experienced only one or two major SF episodes during its life. Since galaxy interactions in clusters are very important triggers, it is difficult to understand how VV 432 could sustain its very low metallicity in the dense VC environment. The existence of such metal-poor gas-rich galaxy poses serious questions on its evolution history, and thus gives additional arguments to make independent check of its distance, using, in particular, color-magnitude diagrams for resolved stars.

To estimate physical parameters of VV 432 we accept further that this galaxy is in VC, at the distance 20.7 Mpc.

Since as we already noticed VV 432 resembles by its morphology an edge-on bent disk, it is natural to check probable companion galaxies, acting as strong enough disturbing bodies.

According to NED 444The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., the nearest galaxies in both the projected distance and the relative velocity are VCC 0200 (MCG +02–31–076) at the angular distance 41.4 and Vhel = 65 km s-1, with B-magnitude = $`14\stackrel{m}{.}69`$, and NGC 4216 (UGC 7284) at the angular distance 51.8 and Vhel = 131 km s-1, with B-magnitude = $`10\stackrel{m}{.}99`$. If they are members of VC, their respective projected distances relative to VV 432 are 240 and 312 kpc. NGC 4216 according to LEDA is a giant spiral with MB= $`21\stackrel{m}{.}6`$. If it is indeed on the same radial distance as VV 432, it really can exert strong enough tidal action on VV 432 to trigger gravitational instability and subsequent SF bursts. In particular, tidal generation of shocks in gaseous disk according to Icke (Icke85 (1985)) mechanism can be responsible for observed SF bursts (see e.g. Pustilnik et al. (Pustilnik00 (2000)) for the estimates of tidal effect in similar situation).

### 4.2 VV 543 = NGC 5275

This galaxy was considered as a candidate dwarf galaxy (MB= $`15\stackrel{m}{.}5`$) due to its catalog radial velocity V = 1 395 km s-1 (RC3, de Vaucouleurs et al. (deVaucouleurs91 (1991)), cited also in both LEDA and NED, and originally obtained by Arkhipova & Esipov (Arkhipova79 (1979))). However colour indices of this object are rather typical of giant E galaxies than for dIrr systems (Zasov & Arkhipova 2000). According to our observations, it is evident that there was some misprint in the original work, caused the catalog velocity of this galaxy to be in error by the factor of ten. Its real velocity, measured from our spectrum of emission-line region on the western periphery (hereafter VV 543W) is 14 100 km s-1.

In fact, the spectrum of the central bright region of this galaxy shows, that we have in this case an optical pair in projection. Indeed the central part shows only the absorption lines, typical of elliptical galaxy (e.g. Pickles (Pickles88 (1988))), but its radial velocity is 1620$`\pm `$120 km s-1 lower than that for the emission-line galaxy. Its luminosity MB = $`20\stackrel{m}{.}9`$ evidences that this galaxy falls to the class of normal ellipticals. The apparent magnitude of VV 543W is $``$ 2$`\stackrel{m}{.}`$5 fainter (B $`17\stackrel{m}{.}7`$) than that of VV 543E (this estimate follows from the comparison of the flux near $`\lambda `$ 4400 Å in both galaxies), what leads to M$`{}_{B}{}^{}`$ $`18\stackrel{m}{.}7`$. Its linear size along the major axis $``$ 13 kpc is quite modest, and, owing to the typical spectrum of Hii-region, this western component can be considered as a bright blue compact/Hii galaxy. The compact object lying at about 20$`\mathrm{}`$ to NE from the absorption-line galaxy is a foreground star.

The extent of H$`\alpha `$ emission along the minor axis is traced within 8$`\mathrm{}`$. Even after the binning in 4 pixels (which corresponds to the seeing of 2$`\mathrm{}`$) the velocity curve does not indicate clear gradient. The full range of the radial velocity is about 80 km s-1 with the mean value of 14 100$`\pm `$30 km s-1.

According to NED, VV 543W has a probable companion galaxy NGP9 F324–0303806 at 5.8 with the radial velocity 13 699$`\pm `$126 km s-1 and B = $`16\stackrel{m}{.}68`$. Corresponding projection distance $``$ 300 kpc and velocity difference 401$`\pm `$130 km s-1 are in the range typical of wide pairs of binary galaxies (see e.g. the study by Chengalur et al. (Chengalur93 (1993)) and Nordgren et al. (Nordgren98 (1998))). Some weak tidal action from this galaxy can be responsible for the enhanced SF in VV 543W (see e.g. Reshetnikov & Combes (Reshet97 (1997)), and Rudnick & Rix (Rudnick98 (1998))).

### 4.3 VV 747 = CG 798

This dwarf galaxy consists of two clearly separated regions embedded into the common envelope of low surface brightness. The brighter SW component has full size of about 15$`\mathrm{}`$ and the fainter NE can be traced down to about 8$`\mathrm{}`$ ($``$ 0.8 and 0.4 kpc respectively). Both regions show emission-line spectrum (see Fig. 3b). The high excitation spectrum with the observed \[Oiii\] line $`\lambda `$ 4363 Å of the SW component allows to determine oxygen abundance using the direct measurement of $`T_e`$. Our O abundance is 12+log(O/H) = 7.85$`\pm `$0.05 compared to the abundance 7.97 derived by Izotov & Thuan (Izotov99 (1999)). This low metallicity is not untypical for BCGs.

Smooth velocity curve along the slit shows a small but clear slope across the SW component in the region of high S/N ratio of H$`\alpha `$ with the total extent of about 15$`\mathrm{}`$ and the velocity range from 540 to 630 km s-1, consistent with the maximal rotation velocity of about 45 km s-1 and mean radial velocity of 585 km s-1. The galaxy body is well elongated, so the inclination correction does not seem to be larger than 20$`÷`$30%. In the NE component the velocity can be measured only in two independent points, showing significant scattering, consistent with their internal uncertainties. The mean velocity of NE component, taking from these two points, is about 690$`\pm `$42 km s-1.

Huchra et al. (Huchra95 (1995)) presented the values of the observed velocities for two components of this galaxy, designated as SW and NE, but their coordinates given in the paper, are the same for both of them. If we accept that they observed the same components, our results are consistent with theirs (V(SW) = 621$`\pm `$32 and V(NE) = 665$`\pm `$44 km s-1) within the cited uncertainties.

Since the two separate velocity points for the NE component do not show any clear gradient, which would indicate its independent rotation, and the mean velocity of the NE component matches well the continuation of the velocity curve for the SW component, there is no reason to consider this system as two different galaxies in collision. The current data favour the interpretation of this system as a single galaxy with two super-giant Hii-regions in different excitation stages. In this case the systemic velocity of this single galaxy is about 620 km s-1 with the full velocity range of 540 to 710 km s-1. Both these values are quite well consistent with the parameters of Hi-profile of VV 747 described and shown in section 3.2. The latter full velocity range corresponds to the maximal rotational velocity of 85 km s-1.

The better knowledge of the velocity curve in the region of the NE component is necessary to exclude completely the hypothesis of merger of two dwarf galaxies. At least one indirect argument favours this interpretation. If TF relation holds for this galaxy, its Hi mass and blue luminosity are more consistent with the narrower width (W0.2 = 70–80 km s-1), than with the observed one in the integrated Hi-profile. It can indicate that we observe the sum of two “narrow” Hi-profiles displaced at about 40–50 km s-1 each from other. Only 21 cm line mapping of Hi velocity field and/or very high quality H$`\alpha `$ velocity data can help to make a final interpretation of this system.

The search in the NED resulted in the bright companion galaxy NGC 3432 (= Arp 206 = VV 011) at the angular distance 67 with B = $`11\stackrel{m}{.}67`$ and the radial velocity 616 km s-1, very close to that of VV 747. This galaxy, classified as SB(s)m (LINER Hii), has MB = $`18\stackrel{m}{.}3`$. At the projected distance $``$ 190 kpc the tidal action of this galaxy to VV 747 may also be strong enough to trigger SF in this tiny dwarf.

## 5 Discussion and conclusions

One of the important questions concerning the nature of the “nest” and “chains” of VV-galaxies is their evolution status. Current study as well as several previous publications demonstrate that many of the low-luminosity VV-galaxies are relatively nearby irregular galaxies with several bright knots of enhanced SF. Their position in two-colour diagram indicates a presence of SF burst in many of them (Zasov & Arkhipova Zasov00 (2000)). They roughly follow so called luminosity – metallicity relation: the least luminous galaxies show in general smaller values of $`O/H`$.

VV 432 has a very low heavy-element abundance. Its $`O/H`$ is among the lowest ten values of the most metal-deficient BCGs out of more than one thousand BCGs/Hii-galaxies known up-to-now. It may be considered as an example of non-evolved galaxy. Analysis of the empirical correlations suggests that dwarf galaxies with 12+log(O/H) $`<`$ 7.6 can currently experience only the first in their history episode of SF (Izotov & Thuan Izotov99 (1999)). Therefore VV 432 with 12+log(O/H) = 7.58 is very good candidate for more detailed study. If it is situated in Virgo cluster, it will be the most metal deficient galaxy of this aggregate, being even less chemically evolved than another well-known metal-poor Hii-galaxy in the direction of Virgo cluster Hi 1225+01 with 12+log(O/H) = 7.66 (Salzer et al. Salzer91 (1991); Chengalur et al. Chengalur95 (1995)). One of the possible ways to resolve the dilemma of radial distance to VV 432 is a detection of brightest stars and construction of their color-magnitude diagram.

The galaxies we discuss have rather close neighbours. Icke (Icke85 (1985)) first has drawn attention to the importance of relatively weak interactions to trigger gravitational instability in gas disks via generation of shocks. Many observational evidences for the important role of weak interactions to trigger SF were obtained since that time, including the detection of low mass Hi-companions of nearby Hii-galaxies (Chengalur et al. Chengalur95 (1995); Taylor et al. Taylor93 (1993), Taylor95 (1995); Taylor Taylor97 (1997)) and optical faint companions of BCGs (Pustilnik et al. Pustilnik97 (1997)). Recent results on late spirals by Reshetnikov & Combes (Reshet97 (1997)) and Rudnick & Rix (Rudnick98 (1998)) also suggest the importance of weak interactions to modulate SF history in these galaxies.

From the observational data discussed above some preliminary conclusions can be drawn:

* Spectrophotometry of VV-galaxies shows that low luminosity representatives of this sample are in general metal-deficient objects, and in this aspect they are similar to dwarf irregular galaxies.
* The extremely metal-deficient galaxy VV 432 (12+log(O/H) = 7.58) is probably the least evolved known member of Virgo cluster.
* The system VV 543 radial velocity cited in the RC3 catalog and other databases is wrong. This object consists of two galaxies with discordant redshifts (a unique example among the galaxies of this type!), and probably presents an optical pair. VV 543W is an Hii-galaxy with the radial velocity 1620 km s-1 higher than that of absorption-line E-type galaxy VV 543E.
* VV 747 is probably a single dwarf galaxy rich of neutral hydrogen.
* The presence of massive companion galaxies at the distances of few hundred kpc from the studied VV-objects with enhanced SF rate is probably indicative of the important role of weak interactions to trigger SF activity at least in some fraction of low mass VV galaxies.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank D.Makarov (SAO) for providing us with his MIDAS package to derive velocity curve on long-slit spectra. SAO authors appreciate the partial financial support from the RFBR grant No. 96-02-16398 One of the authors (A.Z.) thanks RFBR (grant 98-02-17102) and Federal program “Astronomy” for financial support. We have 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, and of the Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database, http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr.