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# Low-Dimensional Long-Range Topological Charge Structure in the QCD Vacuum

(September 15, 2003)

## Abstract

While sign-coherent 4-dimensional structures cannot dominate topological charge fluctuations in the QCD vacuum at all scales due to reflection positivity, it is possible that enhanced coherence exists over extended space-time regions of lower dimension. Using the overlap Dirac operator to calculate topological charge density, we present evidence for such structure in pure-glue SU(3) lattice gauge theory. It is found that a typical equilibrium configuration is dominated by two oppositely-charged sign-coherent connected structures (“sheets”) covering about 80% of space-time. Each sheet is built from elementary 3-d cubes connected through 2-d faces, and approximates a low-dimensional curved manifold (or possibly a fractal structure) embedded in the 4-d space. At the heart of the sheet is a “skeleton” formed by about 18% of the most intense space-time points organized into a global long-range structure, involving connected parts spreading over maximal possible distances. We find that the skeleton is locally 1-dimensional and propose that its geometrical properties might be relevant for understanding the possible role of topological charge fluctuations in the physics of chiral symmetry breaking.

One of the important goals in hadronic physics is a detailed understanding of vacuum structure in QCD. Local patterns in topological charge fluctuations represent an important aspect of this structure. Indeed, phenomena such as large $`\eta ^{}`$ mass, $`\theta `$-dependence, and possibly spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking (S$`\chi `$SB) are directly related to vacuum fluctuations of topological charge. While lattice gauge theory provides a framework for first-principles non-perturbative studies of topological charge fluctuations, the extraction of meaningful and unbiased structural information has long been a difficult problem. However, the recent development of fermionic methods has improved this situation considerably and it is no longer necessary to rely on subjective procedures to smooth out the rough short-distance behavior of gauge fields. One way to proceed is to study the structure of low-lying Dirac eigenmodes and to infer the properties of underlying topological charge fluctuations indirectly. This was advocated in Inimodes , developed in Hor02A , and used in many recent studies (see e.g. Followup ; Other ).

The advances in implementing lattice chiral symmetry (for reviews see e.g. Chiral ) have also made it possible to pursue a direct approach to this problem. Indeed, with any $`\gamma _5`$-Hermitian lattice Dirac operator $`D`$ satisfying the Ginsparg-Wilson relation $`\{D,\gamma _5\}=D\gamma _5D`$ (e.g. the overlap operator Neu98A ), one can associate a topological charge density operator Has98A

$$q_x=\text{tr}\gamma _5(1\frac{1}{2}D_{x,x})$$
(1)
The global charge associated with this lattice density is strictly stable with respect to generic local variations of the gauge field Stable , thus fully respecting the topological nature of this quantity. In addition, the above $`q_x`$ is special in several ways. For example, the index theorem is exactly satisfied with respect to the associated Dirac operator Has98A , and its renormalization properties are analogous to those in the continuum Giu01A . An important virtue of $`q_x`$ is that it can be naturally eigenmode-expanded. While $`q_x`$ contains all fluctuations up to the lattice cutoff, one can use the eigenmode expansion up to scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ to define an effective density Hor02B , $`q_x^{(\mathrm{\Lambda })}_{|\lambda |\mathrm{\Lambda }a}(1\frac{\lambda }{2})c_x^\lambda ,`$ where $`c_x^\lambda =\psi _x^\lambda \gamma _5\psi _x^\lambda `$ is the local chirality of the mode with eigenvalue $`\lambda `$. The ultraviolet fluctuations are naturally filtered out in $`q_x^{(\mathrm{\Lambda })}`$ (eigenmode filtering Hor02A ), and this density can be used to study the structure of topological charge fluctuations at arbitrary low-energy scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. By studying the effective densities, it was demonstrated Hor02B  that topological charge at low energy is not locally concentrated in sign-coherent unit-quantized lumps (e.g. instantons). This was first predicted by Witten Wit79A  and emphasized recently in Hor02A , where the first lattice evidence was presented.

In this work, we initiate the investigation of possible non-trivial structure (order) in the full topological charge density Eq. (1) for typical configurations contributing to the pure glue QCD path integral. This is a qualitatively new step with some aspects worth emphasizing. (a) We evaluate the local operator $`q_x`$ at every space-time point, thus producing gauge invariant “configurations” of topological charge density. No processing of the underlying gauge configurations is involved and no bias is imposed. (b) Assuming that the well-defined space-time structure in $`q_x`$ exists, it has to be viewed as fundamental (rather than low-energy) since, unlike the case of effective densities $`q_x^{(\mathrm{\Lambda })}`$, the use of a local operator does not introduce a new scale apart from the lattice cutoff already in place. Consequently, such structure could have both short and long-distance manifestations. (c) A fundamental structure of this type has not been observed before in an unbiased setting. Indeed, using the conventional operators, the resulting space-time distributions of topological charge can hardly be distinguished from complete disorder. The common interpretation of this is that the physically relevant fluctuations might be obscured by the structureless ultraviolet noise arising due to entropy considerations (the problem of ultraviolet dominance).

In what follows, we will present evidence for the existence of fundamental structure in topological charge density, and demonstrate some of its basic geometric features. Needless to say, we do this with the aim that some of these properties might help to advance our understanding of the QCD vacuum, and hence of the basic features of hadronic physics. With regard to the problem of ultraviolet dominance, we were motivated by the fact that, apart from beautiful properties mentioned above, the operator $`q_x`$ of Eq. (1) differs from standard lattice discretizations in a very qualitative manner. In particular, it is well-known that lattice chiral symmetry implies non-ultralocality of lattice Dirac kernel $`D`$, i.e. non-zero coupling among fermionic variables at arbitrarily large distances Nultr . Similarly, it is believed that any $`D_{xy}`$ involves gauge paths (from $`x`$ to $`y`$) running arbitrarily far from $`x`$ and $`y`$. As a result, $`q_x`$ will receive (small) contributions from arbitrarily extended gauge loops (chiral smoothing Hor02A  ) and is expected to be much less sensitive to the ultraviolet noise than typical ultralocal operators. We find that chiral smoothing indeed provides enough suppression of ultraviolet noise for the underlying coherent structure to be revealed.

As a guide to identifying this structure, we note the fact that $`q(x)q(0)0,|x|>0`$, in the continuum SeSt . This implies that the topological charge cannot be predominantly concentrated in 4-dimensional sign-coherent structures of finite physical size Hor02B . However, one cannot conclude that the local behavior of topological charge density is strictly disordered! Indeed, the negativity of the correlator does not exclude enhanced sign-coherence present on lower-dimensional subsets of 4-d space-time. In that case the structure could respect the negativity of the correlator by appropriate embedding of subsets with alternating sign into space-time. Consequently, we focus our search on the level of sign-coherence, and how it changes when concentrating on space-time subregions containing strong fields. In what follows we will refer to sign-coherence in $`q_x`$ simply as coherence.

For the numerical study we use $`q_x`$ associated with the overlap Dirac operator Neu98A , whose suitability for this purpose was confirmed in Ref. Hor02D . To sample the QCD vacuum, we work with Wilson gauge backgrounds as summarized in Table 1. Configurations are separated by 20,000 sweeps and the Sommer parameter serves to set the scale using the interpolation formula of Ref. Sommer . Since the computation is extremely time-consuming, the ensembles are small. However, the attempts to understand QCD vacuum structure in the path integral framework implicitly rely on the expectation that relevant individual configurations exhibit common qualitative properties that are “typical” of the QCD vacuum, so that interesting results should be obtainable from even a few configurations. In our case, we found that for the aspects discussed below, the behavior is remarkably stable from configuration to configuration (both qualitatively and quantitatively). In fact, one could infer the main results presented here by studying just a single configuration from each ensemble. We are thus confident that our conclusions are not affected by low statistics. Some preliminary results related to this work were presented in Ref. Hor02E . Details of the fermion implementation can be found in Ref. Hor02A .

1. We start by verifying that $`q_x`$ is indeed not dominated by coherent 4-d structures, as argued above. Regardless of their shapes, the possible candidates for such structures must be built of elementary lattice 4-d cubes Cubes  that are themselves coherent (their sites have the same sign of $`q_x`$). In fact, we can define the coherent regions on the lattice by finding all coherent 4-d cubes $`𝒞_x`$ (labeled by origin $`x`$) and identifying maximal connected regions built from such cubes. We will say that lattice region $`=\{𝒞_{x_i};i=1,\mathrm{},N\}`$ is connected, if for arbitrary $`𝒞_{x_i},𝒞_{x_j}`$ there is a sequence $`𝒞_{y_k},k=1,\mathrm{},n,`$ such that (a) $`𝒞_{y_k}`$, (b) $`y_1=x_i`$, $`y_n=x_j`$, and (c) $`𝒞_{y_k}`$ and $`𝒞_{y_{k+1}}`$ share a common face (3-d cube).

We have determined all such regions (“structures”) $`_k`$ present in a given configuration, and ordered them by the number of lattice sites in the structure, $`N_k`$. If there are 4-d structures of finite physical size dominating in the continuum limit, then at least the largest of these coherent regions should exhibit scaling behavior when the lattice spacing is changed. Since the ensembles $`_1`$, $`_2`$ have the same physical volumes, the ratios $`N_k/V`$ ($`V`$ is the number of lattice points) for typical largest structures should not depend on the lattice spacing. In Fig. 1 (top) we show these ratios for a configuration from both ensembles. Rather than being similar, the ratios drop dramatically at the smaller lattice spacing. To see this on average, we compute the mean value of the ratio including the 5 largest structures per configuration. Fig. 1 reveals that the ratio not only drops, but it drops by a factor larger than the ratio of lattice volumes. This is confirmed by the fact that the average number of 4-d cubes per large structure is about $`35.3`$ at $`a=0.110`$, and is about $`29.4`$ at $`a=0.082`$. The volume of structures thus decreases even in lattice units. These considerations not only confirm that 4-d structures do not dominate topological charge fluctuations, but also suggest that such structures might not occur in the continuum at all. Indeed, in physical units, structures $`_k`$ observed on the lattice appear to shrink to mere points in the continuum limit.

2. We now concentrate on the possibility that $`q_x`$ exhibits coherence on lower-dimensional subsets of 4-d space-time. As a first step, we search for maximal coherent regions built from elementary 3-d cubes connected through 2-d faces. Such regions define connected 3-d lattice hypersurfaces embedded in the 4-d space-time. We find that all of the configurations studied (see Table 1) exhibit a remarkably similar coherent behavior. The typical situation for a configuration from ensembles $`_1`$, $`_2`$ is shown in Fig. 1 (bottom). Contrary to the case of 4-d cubes, there are only two (oppositely charged) coherent regions dominating the behavior of $`q_x`$. Together, these folded lattice “sheets” cover about 80% of sites and practically fill the space-time. This situation is insensitive to the change of the lattice spacing and our data indicate that it will survive the continuum limit (bottom right of Fig. 1).

We wish to emphasize two points. First, we have tested whether the existence of the 2-sheet structure reflects a specific order present in $`q_x`$, or if it could occur in a random situation as well. To do that, we have performed a random permutation of sites $`p(x)`$ on our lattices and looked for the coherent behavior in $`q_{p(x)}`$. The typical result of such a test is shown in Fig. 2. The 2-sheet structure disappears and the fractions involved are almost invisible on the scale of the original plot. Secondly, the existence of (almost) space-filling 3-d lattice sheets is not sufficient to conclude that the local dimension of maximal coherent regions in the continuum limit is three. The determination of this dimension requires a scaling analysis which is in preparation. While possibly less than three, the dimension is at least one (see part 4 below). Note that this issue is not addressed by the lower right-hand plot of Fig. 1. There the implied scaling relates to the fact that the sheets occupy a macroscopic fraction of space-time and hence involve an infinitely large lower-dimensional manifold in the continuum limit (in the 4-d volume of finite physical size).

3. Since the 2-sheet structure almost fills the space-time, it is expected that for a generic point $`x`$ on a given sheet, there are points $`y`$ on the same sheet separated from $`x`$ by maximal space-time distances possible. Because the sheet is path-connected, such points can be connected by paths within the sheet. Thus, from the geometric point of view there is no specific long-distance scale (other than infrared cutoff) associated with global behavior of the sheet. We will refer to such a situation occuring in the coherent structure as the super-long-distance property Percol .

The super-long-distance property might be relevant to the physics of the QCD vacuum, e.g. to Goldstone boson propagation, if it remains true also if one concentrates on regions with largest topological charge density. Indeed, the physics of the vacuum is expected to be mostly driven by fluctuations with intense fields. For a given configuration, let $`𝒮^f`$ ($`0<f1`$) be the subset of the lattice containing the $`fV`$ most intense sites $`x`$, as ranked by $`|q_x|`$. Within $`𝒮^f`$, there are maximal coherent regions $`_k^{d,f}𝒮^f`$, $`k=1,2,\mathrm{},N^{d,f}`$, built from $`d`$-dimensional cubes connected through $`(d1)`$-dimensional faces. For $`x𝒮^f`$ one can find a maximal Euclidean distance $`r_{d,x}^f`$ reachable from $`x`$ by traveling on a path within a single structure $`_k^{d,f}x`$. Note that $`r_{d,x}^f=0`$ for points that do not belong to any structure. Considering a fixed small fraction $`f_0<f`$, we calculate the average of $`r_{d,x}^f`$ over $`x𝒮^{f_0}`$, i.e. $`r_d^{f_0,f}r_{d,x}^f_{𝒮^{f_0}}`$. This provides us with the measure (scale) of how extended the coherent structure typically is. In Fig. 3 we show the $`f`$-dependence of $`r_d^{0.01,f}`$ measured in units of the largest Euclidean distance $`(_{i=1}^4L_i^2)^{1/2}/2`$ ($`L_i`$ are the sizes of the lattice box). The average is taken over the ensemble $`_1`$ and the observed behavior is typical (and stable) for $`f_0`$ of a few percent. Also shown is the result after performing the random permutation of sites for every configuration.

Note that in the case of 4-d cubes the structure never becomes super-long-distance. In fact, we expect that the maximal distance will approach zero in the continuum limit at arbitrary $`f`$. For d = 3, 2, 1, we observe a well-defined transition to a super-long-distance state which is certainly present at $`f`$ 0.8, 0.4, 0.2 respectively ($`r_d^{0.01,f}0.9`$ at those fractions). These values are insensitive to the change of the lattice spacing. We thus see that after removing the low-intensity points, the super-long-distance structure remains at the core if lower-dimensional elementary cubes are used. The minimal structure with this property is exposed with 1-d cubes (links) and we will refer to it as the skeleton. In our numerical experiments, the maximal space-time distances start occuring already at about $`f=0.16`$ while the average saturates at about $`f=0.20`$. We thus take $`f=0.18`$ as our initial reference value for the skeleton. As further evidence that the observed structure carries a significant amount of order, we note that at $`f=0.18`$ (with the skeleton already formed) one is still confined to average maximal distances of a single lattice spacing when random permutation of sites is performed.

4. Even without an extensive scaling analysis, it is possible to obtain useful insight into the question of the actual space-time dimension involved in the skeleton. More precisely, we will discuss the local dimension. To appreciate the difference, consider e.g. a network built from 1-d lines, but organized globally into a 2-d structure (“mesh”) with a typical physical distance $`l`$ among the nodes. Locally, such a manifold is 1-dimensional, but on the scales larger than $`l`$ it will appear 2-dimensional. We will consider the global structure from this point of view elsewhere.

Our tool here will be the lattice local dimension $`d^L(𝒮)`$ which we define for an arbitrary subset $`𝒮`$ of the lattice. For $`x𝒮`$ let $`d_x^L`$ be the maximal dimension $`d`$ of the elementary cube $`𝒞_y^d`$ such that $`x𝒞_y^d`$ and $`𝒞_y^d𝒮`$, i.e. the maximal dimension of the cube within $`𝒮`$ containing $`x`$. Then $`d^L(𝒮)d_x^L_𝒮`$ is the average of this local dimension over $`𝒮`$. While $`d^L(𝒮)`$ is strictly a lattice notion, it can still be quite useful. In particular, if there is an underlying set $`𝒮^c`$ in the continuum characterized by a single local dimension $`d(𝒮^c)<4`$, then the continuum limit of $`d^L(𝒮)`$ typically provides an upper bound for $`d(𝒮^c)`$. For example, consider a line of non-zero physical length in the continuum. At sufficiently small lattice spacing this might appear as the connected structure built predominantly of bonds, in which case the continuum limit of $`d^L(𝒮)`$ coincides with $`d(𝒮^c)`$. However, it might also come as a string of mainly 4-d cubes at arbitrarily small lattice spacing, and then the limit of $`d^L(𝒮)`$ will be significantly larger than $`d(𝒮^c)`$. At the same time, $`d^L(𝒮)1`$ for the connected lattice structures and the physical dimension will not be underestimated.

Since the super-long-distance property involves connected parts spreading over maximal distances, and since it is insensitive to the change of lattice spacing, we can conclude that the skeleton is at least 1-dimensional. To see whether higher dimensions (less than four) could be relevant we consider sets $`𝒮^f`$ and their partitions $`𝒮^f=𝒮^{f+}𝒮^f`$ into coherent subsets containing sites with positive and negative sign of $`q_x`$. In Fig. 4 we show the $`f`$-dependence of the average lattice coherence dimension $`d^L(𝒮^{f\pm })`$ for ensembles $`_1`$ (I) and $`_2`$ (II). We see that the dimension slightly decreases as we approach the continuum limit. The naive linear extrapolation for the skeleton value f = 0.18 (pentagon) gives $`d^L(𝒮^{f\pm })1.5`$ in the continuum limit and we thus conclude that the physical local dimension associated with the skeleton is $`1d\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}1.5}`$. Assuming that the local structure is not fractal (an option to be investigated) we are thus led to the conclusion that the skeleton is locally 1-dimensional.

For comparison, we show in Fig. 4 also $`d^L(𝒮^{f\pm })`$ for $`_2`$ after random permutation of sites (III), and the result for effective density $`q_x^{(\mathrm{\Lambda }=750\mathrm{MeV})}`$ at the same lattice spacing (IV). As expected, the curve (III) lies lower and tends to zero smoothly at small fractions. On the other hand, for the effective density one naively expects 4-d coherence on the scale $`1/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in the continuum limit, and thus the lattice coherence dimension is much higher.

5. Finally, to start developing a visual intuition for the kind of structure we are observing, we now proceed to graphically verify the existence of the coherent sheets described in part 2. To do that, we have studied the graphs of $`q_x`$ on 2-d sections of the underlying space-time torus. The generic behavior of $`q_x`$ is shown in Fig. 5 (configuration from ensemble $`_1`$). One can clearly observe the enhancement of the structure with linear “ridges” spreading over the whole system. It is easy to see that this is precisely the behavior expected from the (almost) space-filling super-long-distance sheets. Indeed, recall that if $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is an arbitrary base manifold and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1,\mathrm{\Omega }_2\mathrm{\Omega }`$, then $`dim(\mathrm{\Omega }_1\mathrm{\Omega }_2)=dim(\mathrm{\Omega }_1)+dim(\mathrm{\Omega }_2)dim(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ generically. If we identify $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ with the 4-d space-time torus, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$ with the 2-d torus of the section plane, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$ with the manifold of the structure, we get

$$dim(\mathrm{\Omega }_1\mathrm{\Omega }_2)=dim(\mathrm{\Omega }_2)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}$$
(2)
Thus if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$ is a 3-d super-long-distance hypersurface, we should generically see very extended 1-d regions of sign-coherence, which is precisely what is observed. Thus, at the lattice cutoff of about 2 GeV the sheets behave as 3-d hypersurfaces. The precise local dimension of maximal coherent regions in the continuum limit will be studied elsewhere.

In this work we have addressed the following question. Can we identify a fundamental (incorporating all scales) ordered structure in topological charge density for typical configurations contributing to the pure-glue QCD path integral? In other words, using nothing more than a local operator $`q_x`$ to calculate space-time distribution of topological charge, can one detect well-defined patterns in these distributions? While such structure has not been observed before, we have argued that the special properties of the newly available topological charge densities associated with Ginsparg-Wilson fermions give reasons to re-examine this question in detail. In particular, the suppression of ultraviolet noise by chiral smoothing suggests that the problem of ultraviolet dominance might be solved and the underlying order could be revealed. Performing numerical experiments, we have then provided evidence for a fundamental structure of this type by showing that topological charge exhibits long-range order (sign-coherence) on lower-dimensional subsets of the 4-d Euclidean space. In this initial study we have concentrated on certain geometrical properties of this structure. Indeed, if topological charge fluctuations play a role in important aspects of the QCD vacuum (such as S$`\chi `$SB), then some geometrical features should reflect that. While it is not clear yet which structural aspects are physically most relevant, we emphasize two that we find most intriguing: (i) Space-time regions with intense topological charge density are organized into a maximally extended (super-long-distance) structure (“skeleton”). This suggests that there is no specific long-distance scale associated with individual geometrical objects. Rather, there is a global low-dimensional structure that might have to be considered as a whole. (Distance scales associated with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}`$ could be reflected by local features of such global structure.) We speculate that the super-long-distance character of the skeleton might be naturally associated with the long-range propagation of Goldstone pions. It will be demonstrated elsewhere that the super-long-distance property is inherited and enhanced at low energy. (ii) Our data indicates that the skeleton is a locally-linear folded structure, much like a protein or a neural network in 3-d. One aspect that might be significant about this result is that the propagation of massless quarks on a 1-d manifold naturally leads to a non-zero density of Dirac eigenvalues around zero, and hence S$`\chi `$SB (see e.g. Ref. Tik87  for discussion of similar issues). The possibility that such a scenario might be relevant for QCD is being studied.


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# The Light Gluino Mass Window Revisited

## 1 Introduction

The precise measurement of the Z total decay width at LEP and its agreement with its standard model prediction  (with $`m_\mathrm{H}=78_{31}^{+48}`$$`\mathrm{GeV}/c^2`$)

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}^{\mathrm{exp}}=(2495.2\pm 2.3)\mathrm{MeV}\mathrm{and}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}^{\mathrm{SM}}=(2495.9\pm 2.4)\mathrm{MeV}$$
(1)
are often exploited to constrain the cross section of new physics processes . Indeed, under the assumption that new physics contributions to the Z width are exclusively positive (as is the case for processes kinematically allowed at $`\sqrt{s}=m_\mathrm{Z}`$), this agreement allows a 95% confidence level (C.L.) limit of

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}<6.4\mathrm{MeV}$$
(2)
to be set on any exotic contribution to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$.

However, extensions of the standard model, such as supersymmetry or technicolor, generate a whole set of new particles, which may or may not be produced in $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s}=m_\mathrm{Z}`$. The particles that are too heavy to be produced in Z decays may still contribute to the Z width through vacuum polarization diagrams with a generally undetermined sign. It may therefore well occur that negative contributions be sizeable and invalidate the widely used aforementioned limit on $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$.

It is the purpose of this letter to derive model-independent limits on additional contributions to Z decays, and to use these limits to unambiguously constrain the light gluino mass window. It is indeed controversial if a light gluino $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}`$ of mass below 5 $`\mathrm{GeV}/c^2`$ is phenomenologically viable . A review of existing limits and of the related weak points can be found in Ref. . In particular, a study of the QCD colour factors from four-jet angular correlations and the differential two-jet rate in Z decays, performed by ALEPH, allowed a 95% C.L. lower limit of 6.3 $`\mathrm{GeV}/c^2`$ to be set on $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}}`$ . However, it was argued by the light gluino defenders  that this limit was to be weakened because (i) the theory uncertainties were too aggressive; and (ii) no next-to-leading-order mass corrections were available for the four-jet angular correlations.

This letter is organized as follows. In Section 2, the reader is reminded of the model-independent parametrization of the weak loop corrections to the electroweak observables according to the $`\epsilon `$ formalism . This formalism is extended in Section 3 to the corrections caused by any new physics production process, in either the hadronic, the leptonic or the invisible final state. The result is applied to the $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}\mathrm{q}\overline{\mathrm{q}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}`$ process in Section 4 and a model-independent lower limit on the gluino mass is obtained.

## 2 Parametrizing the weak loop corrections

Virtual contributions to the “electroweak observables” have been parametrized in a model-independent way by several authors. Here, the choice was made to parametrize the basic electroweak observables, i.e., those sensitive to the weak loop corrections, with the (linearized) $`\epsilon `$ formalism, according to

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}^0(1+1.35\epsilon _10.46\epsilon _3+0.35\epsilon _\mathrm{b}),`$ (3)
$`R_{\mathrm{}}`$ $`=`$ $`R_{\mathrm{}}^0(1+0.28\epsilon _10.36\epsilon _3+0.50\epsilon _\mathrm{b}),`$ (4)
$`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}^0(10.03\epsilon _1+0.04\epsilon _30.20\epsilon _\mathrm{b}),`$ (5)
$`g_V/g_A`$ $`=`$ $`\left(g_V/g_A\right)^0(1+17.6\epsilon _122.9\epsilon _3),`$ (6)
$`R_\mathrm{b}`$ $`=`$ $`R_\mathrm{b}^0(10.06\epsilon _1+0.07\epsilon _3+1.79\epsilon _\mathrm{b}),`$ (7)
where

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}^0`$ $`=`$ $`2489.46(1+0.73\delta \alpha _S0.35\delta \alpha )\mathrm{MeV},`$ (8)
$`R_{\mathrm{}}^0`$ $`=`$ $`20.8228(1+1.05\delta \alpha _S0.28\delta \alpha ),`$ (9)
$`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}^0`$ $`=`$ $`41.420(10.41\delta \alpha _S+0.03\delta \alpha )\mathrm{nb},`$ (10)
$`\left(g_V/g_A\right)^0`$ $`=`$ $`0.0756191.32\delta \alpha ,`$ (11)
$`R_\mathrm{b}^0`$ $`=`$ $`0.2182355,`$ (12)
are the Born approximations of the corresponding observables, i.e., without any weak loop corrections, and where the pure QCD- and QED-corrections were parametrized as

$$\delta \alpha _S=\frac{\alpha _S(m_\mathrm{Z})0.119}{\pi }\mathrm{and}\delta \alpha =\frac{\alpha (m_\mathrm{Z})\frac{1}{128.90}}{\alpha (0)}.$$
(13)
In the standard model, or in any theory that does not predict new open processes in $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s}=m_\mathrm{Z}`$, the three $`\epsilon `$’s can then be fit to the precise measurements of LEP and SLC , summarized in Table 1.

In this fit, the value of the strong and electromagnetic coupling constants were taken to be

$$\alpha _S(m_\mathrm{Z})=0.1183\pm 0.0020\text{[9]}\mathrm{and}\alpha (m_\mathrm{Z})^1=128.95\pm 0.05\text{[1]}.$$
(14)
The validity of the latter is ensured in extensions of the standard model with only heavy new particles by the decoupling properties of QED, which allow the heavy particle contributions to be safely neglected in the running of $`\alpha `$ from 0 to $`m_\mathrm{Z}`$. The value of $`\alpha _S`$ is well constrained by measurements performed directly at the Z resonance and does not suffer from this kind of uncertainties.

The result of the fit, given in Table 2, is consistent with that presented in Ref. , up to small deviations (less than $`1\sigma `$ or thereabout) caused by recent updates of the measurements and different variables included in the fit.

## 3 Model-independent limits on additional Z decays

The fitted $`\epsilon `$ values are usually interpreted in the standard model to predict the value of the Higgs boson mass, or to constrain new theories in which additional vacuum polarization diagrams would modify the $`\epsilon `$’s. Here, advantage is taken of the redundancy of the quantities in Eqs. (3) to (7) to set instead model-independent limits on additional Z decays, which would be caused by the existence of new particles light enough to be produced in $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s}=m_\mathrm{Z}`$.

For instance, such new particles could be produced and decay in such a way that they contribute only to hadronic Z decays (all quark flavours). Let $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{had}}`$ be the ratio of this new partial width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{NP}}`$ to the total decay width of the Z without this new contribution. The first three observables are changed as follows,

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}\left(1+1.00\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{had}}\right),\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{NP}}\right]`$ (15)
$`R_{\mathrm{}}`$ $``$ $`R_{\mathrm{}}\left(1+1.43\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{had}}\right),\left[\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{had}}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{NP}}\right)/\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{}}\right]`$ (16)
$`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}`$ $``$ $`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}\left(10.57\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{had}}\right),\left[{\displaystyle \frac{12\pi }{m_\mathrm{Z}^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{ee}}(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{had}}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{NP}})}{(\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{NP}})^2}}\right]`$ (17)
while $`(g_V/g_A)`$ and $`R_\mathrm{b}`$ remain untouched. If the technical definition of the original $`\epsilon `$’s is modified with respect to  in such a way that they still only account for the weak loop corrections, these changes modify in turn Eqs. (3) to (5) according to

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}^0(1+1.35\epsilon _10.46\epsilon _3+0.35\epsilon _\mathrm{b}+1.00\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{had}}),`$ (18)
$`R_{\mathrm{}}`$ $`=`$ $`R_{\mathrm{}}^0(1+0.28\epsilon _10.36\epsilon _3+0.50\epsilon _\mathrm{b}+1.43\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{had}}),`$ (19)
$`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}^0(10.03\epsilon _1+0.04\epsilon _30.20\epsilon _\mathrm{b}0.57\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{had}}),`$ (20)
and Eqs. (6) and (7) still apply. Similarly, a new physics contribution to the sole invisible decay width would modify the equations according to

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}^0(1+1.35\epsilon _10.46\epsilon _3+0.35\epsilon _\mathrm{b}+1.00\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{inv}}),`$ (21)
$`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}^0(10.03\epsilon _1+0.04\epsilon _30.20\epsilon _\mathrm{b}2.00\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{inv}}),`$ (22)
and a new physics contribution to the leptonic decay width only (democratically in the three lepton flavours) to

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}^0(1+1.35\epsilon _10.46\epsilon _3+0.35\epsilon _\mathrm{b}+1.00\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{}}),`$ (23)
$`R_{\mathrm{}}`$ $`=`$ $`R_{\mathrm{}}^0(1+0.28\epsilon _10.36\epsilon _3+0.50\epsilon _\mathrm{b}9.89\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{}}),`$ (24)
$`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}^0(10.03\epsilon _1+0.04\epsilon _30.20\epsilon _\mathrm{b}+7.89\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}^{\mathrm{}}).`$ (25)
In each of the three cases, the new physics contribution $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}`$ can be fitted together with the other three $`\epsilon `$’s to the five measured quantities. The results of the three fits, all compatible with $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}=0`$, are listed in Table 3.

Conservative upper limits on the $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}`$’s (i.e, on the new physics branching fractions) were derived at the 95% confidence level by integrating their probability density functions in the physical region ($`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}>0`$) only. Indeed, $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}`$ only accounts for real contributions to Z decays and can therefore only be positive. (All unknown virtual contributions are absorbed in the other $`\epsilon `$’s.) These limits are reported in Table 4, together with the corresponding limits on the new physics partial width and on the new physics cross section at the Z peak. For completeness, $`3\sigma `$\- and $`5\sigma `$-limits are also indicated.

Because the existence of new particles could also modify the evolution of the electromagnetic coupling constant from 0 to $`m_\mathrm{Z}`$, it was checked whether these limits could be affected by a variation of $`\alpha (m_\mathrm{Z})`$. This check is illustrated in Fig. 1a, where it appears that the standard model value of $`\alpha `$ yields the largest upper limits on the three partial widths. The limits of Table 4 are therefore conservative in this respect.

New light hadronic flavours would also modify the evolution of the strong coupling constant. Although, as already mentioned, $`\alpha _S`$ is constrained by measurements performed directly at the Z mass scale, it is also determined with at least as accurate low energy measurements extrapolated at $`m_\mathrm{Z}`$. A different scaling law for the latter would modify the world average of $`\alpha _S`$. However, a contribution from new coloured scalars or fermions would always slow down the running from low energy to $`m_\mathrm{Z}`$ so as to increase the value of $`\alpha _S(m_\mathrm{Z})`$ . As shown in Fig. 1b, such an increase of $`\alpha _S`$ would render more constraining the limits on the hadronic and invisible partial widths. The limit on the leptonic width would be slightly weakened, but would anyway remain the strongest of the three constraints. The conservative choice of ignoring this effect was made throughout.

Finally, it may be argued that a new hadronic contribution to Z decays would decrease the value of $`\alpha _S`$ fitted from the Z lineshape. However, the $`\alpha _S`$ world average and its uncertainty (saturated by common theory errors), and therefore the result of the present fit, do not change noticeably when the $`\alpha _S`$ measurement from the Z lineshape in taken out.

The fit of $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}`$ can be repeated in any other configuration of hadronic, leptonic and invisible contributions to the Z decays from the new physics process. Let $`x_{\mathrm{had}}`$, $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`x_{\mathrm{inv}}`$ be the fractions of hadronic, leptonic and invisible final states produced by the new physics process under consideration. By definition, a final state which is neither hadronic nor leptonic is called invisible, therefore $`x_{\mathrm{inv}}+x_{\mathrm{had}}+x_{\mathrm{}}=1`$. The Z lineshape parameters of Eqs. (3) to (5) are modified according to

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}\left[1+\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}\right],`$ (26)
$`R_{\mathrm{}}`$ $``$ $`R_{\mathrm{}}\left[1+\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}\left(1.43x_{\mathrm{had}}9.89x_{\mathrm{}}\right)\right],`$ (27)
$`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}`$ $``$ $`\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}[1+\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}(2.00+1.43x_{\mathrm{had}}+9.89x_{\mathrm{}}))].`$ (28)
The ($`x_{\mathrm{had}}`$, $`x_{\mathrm{inv}}`$) plane was scanned and the fit performed at each point, yielding a limit on $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}`$ everywhere in this plane. The corresponding 95% C.L. limit on $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$, the new physics contribution to the Z total width, is displayed in Fig. 2a. Similarly, the limit on $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ under the hypothesis that the new particle production contributes to hadronic and invisible final states, and to only one lepton flavour ($`\mu `$ or $`\tau `$), is shown in Fig. 2b.

Very constraining limits on $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ are set all over the plane, but no absolute limit can be obtained when the new particle production leads to fractions in the hadronic, invisible and leptonic (three flavours) final states identical to the Z branching fractions. In this case, only $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ depends on $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{NP}}`$. Equations (4) to (7) no longer yield an independent determination of $`\epsilon _1`$ and $`\epsilon _3`$ with meaningful accuracy, because they all depend on the same linear combination of the two quantities. As a result, the new particle contribution to the Z width can always be cancelled by the $`(1.35\epsilon _10.46\epsilon _3)`$ virtual contribution, if a sufficient amount of fine tuning takes place.

Whether or not this amount of fine tuning is acceptable would need different measurements and/or more theory to decide.

## 4 A model-independent limit on the gluino mass

The results obtained in Section 3 can be applied to a variety of new processes. In this letter, they are used to constrain the cross section of the gluino production at $`\sqrt{s}=m_\mathrm{Z}`$ in the process

$$\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}\mathrm{q}\overline{\mathrm{q}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}},$$
(29)
displayed in Fig. 3 as a function of the gluino mass . Because this cross section is the product of the $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}\mathrm{q}\overline{\mathrm{q}}`$ cross section and a term that describes the gluon splitting into a gluino pair, the uncertainties related to the weak loop corrections to $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}\mathrm{q}\overline{\mathrm{q}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}`$ were alleviated by using the measured $`\mathrm{q}\overline{\mathrm{q}}`$ cross section in the prediction.

When the gluino is light, the final state arising from this process is purely hadronic irrespective of the gluino decay and hadronization, and therefore contributes solely to the Z hadronic decay width in all quark flavours. A 95% C.L. upper limit on the production cross section at $`\sqrt{s}=m_\mathrm{Z}`$ can then be set at 67 pb (Table 4). The corresponding lower limit on the gluino mass can be read off from the curve in Fig. 3, and is (including a 2% systematic uncertainty on $`\alpha _S(m_\mathrm{Z})`$)

$`m_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}}`$ $`>`$ $`6.3\mathrm{GeV}/c^2\mathrm{at}95\%\mathrm{C}.\mathrm{L}.,`$ (30)
$`m_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}}`$ $`>`$ $`5.3\mathrm{GeV}/c^2(3\sigma \mathrm{limit}),`$ (31)
$`m_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}}`$ $`>`$ $`4.2\mathrm{GeV}/c^2(5\sigma \mathrm{limit}).`$ (32)
This limit confirms the one obtained by ALEPH  with an independent study of the QCD colour factors, which makes no use of the absolute Z decay rates, and that derived from the running of the strong coupling constant , which checks in addition the compatibility of the $`\alpha _S`$ measurements at all energy scales. Because it would add fully independent information and because it would avoid the conservative choices of Section 3 to be made, a combination of these results would further consolidate the light gluino exclusion. For instance, a combination of the present limit and that of Ref.  yields lower limits on $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}}`$ of 6.8 $`\mathrm{GeV}/c^2`$ and 5.7 $`\mathrm{GeV}/c^2`$ at 95% and 99.63% C.L., respectively.

The present limit is not affected by the criticisms put forward to invalidate the previous results. It is only if three different fine tuning processes took place, i.e.,

1. if other new particles were produced in association with the gluino with a cross section of the order of or larger than that of the gluino production, but still were not directly detected at LEP;
2. if these processes led to final states such that the overall fractions of hadronic, invisible and leptonic new decays be similar to those of the Z decays, for all lepton and quark flavours;
3. and if additional new physics yielded large negative virtual contributions to the Z total decay width (from the $`1.35\epsilon _10.46\epsilon _3`$ combination) to exactly compensate this multiple new particle production;

that the limit derived with the method presented in this letter would not hold. I leave it to the champions of the light gluino scenario to find a theory in which this devilish conspiracy could take place.

## 5 Conclusion

A method to derive model-independent limits on new physics contributions to Z decays has been presented. No general upper limit on the total Z decay width could be obtained, but very stringent constraints apply when the final states produced by the new physics process of interest are known. In particular, conservative upper limits have been put on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{Z}`$ of 0.55, 1.3 and 3.9 MeV in the case of purely leptonic ($`\mu `$ or $`\tau `$), invisible and hadronic final states.

When applied to the $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{q}\overline{\mathrm{q}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}`$ process, it allows a model-independent lower limit to be set on the gluino mass:

$$m_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{g}}}>6.3\mathrm{GeV}/c^2\mathrm{at}95\%\mathrm{C}.\mathrm{L}.$$

The light gluino mass window is closed.

### Acknowledgments

This work benefited from fruitful discussions with and useful comments from G. Altarelli, P. Azzuri, J.-B. De Vivie, G. Dissertori, G. Ganis, J.-F. Grivaz, B. Pietrzyk, G. Sguazzoni and R. Tenchini.


text:
# Hidden starburst in Seyfert 1 galaxies

## 1 Introduction

Recent investigations of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) have established that a significant fraction of the energy of Seyfert galaxies may be provided by starburst activity and that at least some starburst galaxies have compact AGN cores. As a result, many observational examples of starburst occurring in active galaxies have been found (Maiolino et al., 1995; Ivanov et al., 2000), strengthening the possible connection between active galaxies and circumnuclear starburst activity.

Among the many indicators that may signal the presence of a circumnuclear starburst in AGN are stellar absorption features in ultraviolet spectra (e.g., Heckman et al. 1997; González-Delgado et al. 1997), emission signatures of Wolf-Rayet stars (Kunth & Contini, 1999); Ca ii triplet absorption at 8555 Å (Terlevich, Diaz & Terlevich, 1990; Nelson & Whittle, 1999) and the presence of a featureless continuum (Cid-Fernandes et al., 2001). However, except for a very few cases, circumnuclear starburst has rarely been detected in Seyfert 1 galaxies using the above techniques. Most of the detections came from Seyfert 2 galaxies.

A much more sensitive tracer of powerful starburst activity, proposed by Oliva et al. (1999), is the mass to light ratio at 1.65 $`\mu `$m ($`M/L_H`$), derived from the observed stellar flux and velocity dispersion of the stellar absorption features of Si at 1.59 $`\mu `$m, CO(6,3) at 1.62 $`\mu `$m, and CO(2,0) at 2.29 $`\mu `$m. Although this test has been successfully applied to obscured AGN (i.e$``$ Seyfert 2’s), it has lead, again, to the non-detection of starburst activity in genuine Seyfert 1 galaxies. In the light of the unified model for AGN (Antonucci, 1993), the above results are not readily explained. If there exist a connection between AGN and starburst, one would expect to observe an even distribution of circumnuclear star-forming regions among the two types of Seyferts. Is the lack of a starburst component in type 1 AGN a real effect or it does exists but is hidden by the much stronger radiation from the central engine?

In the last decade, spectroscopy in the wavelength range 3$``$4 $`\mu `$m has proben to be an effective way to detect the presence of starburst activity by means of the emission features at 3.3 $`\mu `$m and sometimes at 3.4 $`\mu `$m (Tokunaga et al., 1991; Mizutani, Suto & Maihara, 1994; Imanishi & Dudley, 2000; Imanishi, 2002). The advantage of observing in this region is clear. In the UV and optical bands, emission from AGN in Seyfert 2s is much weaker than in Seyfert 1s due to large dust extinction, so detection of compact starbursts is technically much easier in the former than in the later. However, at 3–4 $`\mu `$m, dust extinction is much lower (A3–4μm/Av = 0.06; Rieke & Lebofsky 1985). Flux attenuation of AGN emission at 3–4 $`\mu `$m differs only by a factor of 2-5 between Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s if Av toward the obscured AGN in the later is 10-30 mag (e.g., Fadda et al. 1998). Thus, at 3–4 $`\mu `$m, detection of the compact nuclear starbursts in Sy1s is not so difficult compared to Sy2s. Given that the compact nuclear starbursts have been detected in Sy2s, their detection in Sy1s is also feasible.

Emission features at 3.3 $`\mu `$m and 3.4 $`\mu `$m has been attributed to large molecules like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH; Leger & Puget 1984) illuminated by ultraviolet photons from early type stars. They have been found to be prominent in pure starburst, infrared luminous galaxies and obscured AGN (Moorwood, 1986; Imanishi & Dudley, 2000; Imanishi, 2002) and are associated to star formation activity in galaxies. The lack of available spectroscopic observations in Seyfert 1 prevents to state if this test also fails in these objects. To our knowledge, Mrk 231 has been the only Seyfert 1 galaxy observed in the 3$``$4 $`\mu `$m region with the goal of detecting signals of starburst activity. A positive detection of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH feature in that object (Imanishi & Dudley, 2000, hereafter ID00) makes NIR spectroscopy a promising technique. Nonetheless, it should be keep in mind that in the close universe, Mrk 231 is the brightest active galaxy in the IR ($`L_{\mathrm{IR}}`$=3.5 $`\times `$ 1012 L☉). Moreover, the existence of a strong OH maser source in its nucleus (Baan, 1985) points, in fact, towards the existence of a strong starburst in its circumnuclear region.

This letter reports the results of 3$``$4 $`\mu `$m spectroscopy aimed at detecting hidden starburst activity in type 1 AGN and quantifying its importance to the IR energetics. In § 2 we describe the observations, data reduction and main results. A discussion of our data is in § 3. Additional evidence to support our main findings is in § 4. Conclusions are in § 5. Throughout this paper, a Hubble constant of Ho= 75 km s-1 Mpc-1 will be used.

## 2 Observations, Data Reduction and Results

### 2.1 Observations

Five Seyfert 1 galaxies and one QSO111The terms “Seyfert 1” and “QSO” are used throughout the text to indicate differences in the absolute magnitude of the AGN. Objects brighter than MB=-23 are classified as QSOS and those fainter than that value are classified as Seyfert 1s. Spectroscopically, both types of objects are indistinguishable from each other. were observed during the night of April 22, 2002 using the SpeX facility spectrometer (Rayner et al., 1998) at the 3.0 m NASA infrared telescope facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. In the UV and optical region, the spectra of the sources is dominated by the non-stellar continuum radiation emitted by the AGN as well as emission features emitted by the broad line region. Except for NGC 3227, no significant contribution of circumnuclear stellar population has been reported. Table 1 provides useful information for the galaxies.

In the long wavelength cross-dispersed mode, SpeX provides nearly continuous coverage from 2.2 $`\mu `$m through 4.2 $`\mu `$m. Here, we will discuss only the spectra covering the 3.0$``$3.6 $`\mu `$m region. They were acquired using a 0$`\mathrm{}`$.8 slit width, oriented north-south yielding an instrumental resolution R$``$ 1000. Observations were done nodding in an off-on-on-off source pattern with a typical individual integration time of 30 seconds (usually 10 coadds of 3 sec each) and total integration times (excluding overheads) between 30 minutes and 50 minutes. A0V stars were observed near targets to provide telluric standards at similar airmasses. Seeing, as measured in the K band, varied between 0$`\mathrm{}`$.7$``$0$`\mathrm{}`$.8 (FWHM) during the night.

### 2.2 Data Reduction

The spectral extraction and calibration procedures were carried out using Spextool, the in-house software developed and provided by the SpeX team for the IRTF community444Spextool is available from the IRTF website: http://irtf.ifa.hawaii.edu/Facility/spex/spex.html. Each on-off source pair of observations was reduced individually and the results summed to provide a final spectrum. A 1′′.6 $``$ 1′′.8 diameter aperture was used to extract the spectra. This window size integrates nearly all counts detected in the light profile, which was essentially point-like and indistinguishable from that of the A0V standards. Observations of an argon arc lamp enabled wavelength calibration of the data.

Wavelength calibrated final target spectra were divided by AOV stars observed at a similar airmasses. The spectra were each multiplied by a black body function corresponding to 10,000 K in order to restore the true continuum shape of the targets. Spectra were flux calibrated by normalizing to the $`L`$ band magnitude of the corresponding A0V standard star observed. Finally, the spectra were corrected for Galactic extinction, as determined from the COBE/IRAS infrared maps of Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis (1998) and then shifted to rest wavelength using the $`z`$ values available in NED.

### 2.3 Results

The resulting flux-calibrated spectra are displayed in Figure 1. In order to increase the S/N, data for Mrk 1239 and NGC 4051 were smoothed using a Gaussian filter of 5 Å FWHM. The 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH feature is clearly present in the QSO Mrk 478 and in the two Seyfert 1 galaxies Mrk 766 and NGC 3227. In the remaining three objects, evidence of that emission is uncertain, except probably in NGC 4051, where a feature at the expected position is seen. For Mrk 478 and Mrk 766 it is the first time that the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH emission is detected. Imanishi (2002, hereafter IM02) had already reported the detection of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m emission in NGC 3227. Nonetheless, they considered this AGN as Seyfert 2 while spectroscopically it is classified as Seyfert 1 (Schinnerer et al., 1999). We keep the latter classification. and confirm the presence of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH emission at a higher spectral and spatial resolution.

Table 2 lists the integrated 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH fluxes and the corresponding equivalent widths and luminosities. Uncertainties are 3$`\sigma `$ representive. Fluxes were measured in two ways: integrating directly over the feature and fitting a Gaussian profile. Both methods gave similar results within the uncertainties set by the S/N. The continuum level was determined by a linear fit of the data points that are free of emission or absorption over the interval 3.0$``$3.7 $`\mu `$m. The peak of the PAH feature as determined from the Gaussian fit was 3.29 $`\mu `$m for Mrk 478 and 3.30 $`\mu `$m for NGC 3227 and Mrk 766, in agreement with the values reported in the literature for starburst and Seyfert 2 galaxies (Mizutani, Suto & Maihara 1994; ID00; IM02). The FWHM of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH emission are rather similar: 550 Å, 460 Å and 450 Å for Mrk 478, Mrk 766 and NGC 3227, respectively. They agree with the value of 420 Å reported by Tokunaga et al. (1991) for extended sources such as planetary nebulae and H ii regions. No previous measurements of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH width for Seyferts galaxies have been reported in the literature so a direct comparison with our data is not possible. However, a visual inspection of our spectra and those of ID00 and IM02 allows us to conclude that the FHWM of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m feature are rather similar.

The small aperture of 0.8″$`\times `$ 0.8″ employed for integrating the spectra sets tightly constraints to the distance from the centre of the AGN to the starburst. For each object of our sample, an upper limit to this distance is listed in column 3 of Table 1. In NGC 3227 it corresponds to the inner 60 pc; in Mrk 766, the inner 150 pc and in Mrk 478, the inner 1 kpc. These values represents, by far, the best observational estimates on the location of a circumnuclear starburst in Seyfert 1 galaxies and QSOs.

In Mrk 1239, NGC 4051 and 1H 1934-063, no clear evidence for the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH emission is observed and only upper limits to its flux could be derived (see Table 2). The lack of PAH emission is interpreted as either they are unobscured AGN with no significant circumnuclear star-formation activity or if there is any starburst component, it is located outside the inner few hundred parsecs of the nucleus. A third possibility may be related to the correlation between AGN activity and active star-forming host proposed by IM02: the most powerful monsters live in the more actively star-forming host galaxies. For instance, it is well known that NGC 4051 is one of the weakest Seyfert 1 nuclei (González-Delgado et al., 1997). If the correlation is valid, it would imply a very low level of star formation in this object, probably outside the detection limits. The same argument can be applied to 1H 1934-063, another low luminosity Seyfert 1 galaxy.

It is important to note the presence of an emission feature at 3.45$`\mu `$m in the spectrum of Mrk 1239, as can be seen in the upper left panel of Figure 1. In the remaining 5 objects, none is seen at this position, either in emission or in absorption. No previous report of such an emission were found in the literature for an extragalactic object. Reports of an absoption feature at 3.4$`\mu `$m, attributted to carbonaceous dust grain, exist for Seyfert 2 (Imanishi 2000a, b; ID00; IM02) and composite starburst/obscured AGN galaxies (Imanishi, Dudley & Maloney, 2001). In addition, Tokunaga et al. (1991) detected an emission feature of unclear origin at 3.43 $`\mu `$m in the spectrum of Elias 1, a Herbig Ae source. Whether the emission seen in Mrk 1239 is related to the 3.4$`\mu `$m absorption or to the stellar 3.43 $`\mu `$m emission is not possible to tell from our data. Nonetheless, the fact that no clear evidence of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH emission is seen on this source and that it is the only object in which the 3.4 $`\mu `$m is observed gives support to the hypothesis that the 3.3 $`\mu `$m and 3.4 $`\mu `$m features are unrelated (Tokunaga et al., 1991).

## 3 Discussion

Several important points arise from the data listed in Tables 1 and 2, mainly when compared to the information available in the literature for pure starburst and Seyfert 2 galaxies.

Even in the presence of starburst activity, small 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH equivalent widths (hereafter EW3.3) in AGN is most likely caused by the strong continuum emitted by circumnuclear dust heated by the central source, which peaks at the 3 $`\mu `$m to 4 $`\mu `$m region. For that reason, it is not surprising to find that the average EW3.3 measured in our galaxy sample is 44$`\pm `$10 Å, excluding the upper limits detections, and 27 Å, including them. Considering that starburst-dominated galaxies show EW3.3 in the interval 600$``$2400 Å (ID00), we deduce that more than 90% of the continuum flux in the 3.3 $`\mu `$m region originates from dust heated by the AGN in Seyfert 1. For Seyfert 2 galaxies, nearly 80 % of the 3–4 $`\mu `$m continuum is also related to AGN activity (IM02). However, low EW3.3 does not necessarily means that the IR emission (8$``$1000 $`\mu `$m) is also dominated by the AGN contribution.

A first approach to estimate the relative importance of a hidden starburst is to compare the IR and 3.3 $`\mu `$m luminosities. Following Sanders & Mirabel (1996), the LIR is obtained using the 12 $`\mu `$m, 25 $`\mu `$m, 60 $`\mu `$m and 100 $`\mu `$m $`IRAS`$ fluxes, also listed in Table 1. The L3.3/LIR ratios derived for the objects of our sample are shown in column 5 of Table 2. We found that they are rather similar to those measured in the Seyfert 2 galaxy sample of IM02. The most striking result, however, is for Mrk 478. The L3.3/LIR ratio for this source reaches 0.56$`\times `$10-3, more than half of the typical value found for starburst dominated galaxies (L3.3/L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}`$1$`\times `$10-3; Mouri et al. 1990). The assumption that 0.1% of the IR luminosity in starburst galaxies is converted into 3.3$`\mu `$m emission has later been supported by several works (i.e., Mizutani, Suto & Maihara 1994; IM02). The above means that Mrk 478 harbors a powerful hidden compact starburst region, not detected by optical and/or UV spectroscopy.

Mrk 766 and NGC 3227, the other two Seyfert 1 galaxies with clear identification of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m feature show L3.3/LIR ratios typical of those measured in Seyfert 2 galaxies. As for Mrk 478, Mrk 766 has no signs of circumnuclear star formation in the visible or UV region. This suggests that the lack of detection of starburst activity in Seyfert 1 galaxies and QSOs by means of UV and optical indicators can be due to the strong contribution of the AGN radiation to the observed continuum rather than to a truly deficit of star-forming regions in these objects. A more definite conclusion on this issue should be reached as soon as observations of a larger number of objects become available. But it is clear that had we applied any of the diagnostics usually employed to search for starburst in AGN (see §1) only one out of the six galaxies of our sample (NGC 3227) would present signs of active star formation.

## 4 Molecular CO and the PAH emission: further evidences for starburst in Type 1 objects

Several pieces of evidence give additional support to our results and suggest a tight correlation between the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH and molecular CO emission. Evans et al. (2001) observed a sample of 10 infrared-excess optically selected QSOs from the Palomar-Green (PG) Bright Quasar Survey with the goal of establishing whether or not quasi-stellar objects reside in molecular-rich galaxies as well as determining how the infrared and molecular gas properties of QSOs compare with those of ultraluminous infrared galaxies. Mrk 478 is among the objects showing millimetre CO (1$``$0) emission. According to Evans et al. (2001) results, this QSO shows one of the largest CO luminosities and a very high H2 molecular mass (8.0 $`\times `$ 109 M☉). It means that Mrk 478 lives in a host galaxy containing significant supply of molecular gas, capable of igniting and sustaining both AGN and star formation activity. All the QSOs of Evans et al. (2001) sample have high values of $`L_{\mathrm{IR}}/L_{\mathrm{CO}}`$. In starburst galaxies, that ratio is commonly referred to as the star formation efficiency. Large values of $`L_{\mathrm{IR}}/L_{\mathrm{CO}}`$ in AGN can be interpreted as due to either dust heating by the QSO or to star formation intimately connected to the QSO phenomenon. The presence of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m feature in Mrk 478 and the high L3.3/LIR ratio, similar to that observed in IRLGs and pure starburst objects, clearly points out to the second possibility. In addition, if this hypothesis is correct and the CO emission comes primarily for the starburst component, our data sets important constraints to the region where it is located: the inner 1 kpc.

Similar results are obtained for NGC 3227. Using NICMOS imaging, Quillen et al. (1999) found an extended H2 emission that lies in a 100 pc diameter “disk” with a major P.A $``$100o, probably associated with large quantities of dense molecular material. Variations in the distribution and velocity components observed in \[O iii\] and H$`\alpha `$+\[N ii\] on this source by González-Delgado et al. (1997) suggest that star formation is vigorous in its central region. In addition, from the CO velocity field maps, Schinnerer et al. (1999) found evidence that a warped molecular disk is present in the inner 70 pc of this galaxy. Our 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH detection in NGC 3227 is in total agreement with the above results and confirms the presence of a circumnuclear starburst in this galaxy. Moreover, the size of the emitting PAH region, constrained to the central 60 pc, is coincident with the size of the CO molecular disk, suggesting a close connection between these two features.

CO observations of Mrk 766 have failed to detect significant emission of molecular gas in this object. However, Taniguchi et al. (1990) derived an upper limit for its H2 mass and found it to be 4.4 $`\times `$ 108 M☉, almost 20 times lower than that of Mrk 478. Nonetheless, CO observations of NGC 3227 by these same authors allowed them to derived an H2 mass of 1.6 $`\times `$ 108 M☉, 3 times smaller than the upper limit found for Mrk 766. Putting together the CO and 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH measurements for Mrk 478, Mrk 766 and NGC 3227 it appears that they are intimately related and connected to the star formation phenomenon.

## 5 Summary

The apparent lack of circumnuclear starburst in type 1 AGN has been analysed using medium resolution spectroscopy in the near-infrared for 5 Seyfert 1 galaxies and one QSO. A clear identification of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH emission, usually associated to star formation activity, was obtained in Mrk 478, Mrk 766 and NGC 3227. Upper limits for the 3.3 $`\mu `$m flux was derived for the remaining objects. The values of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH equivalent widths are very similar to those found in Seyfert 2 galaxies known to host a circumnuclear starburst. It suggests that AGN of type 1 and 2 present a comparable level of star-formation activity but probably in the former type of objects it is hidden by the direct view of the central radiation.

Although more than 90% of the continuum flux at 3.3 $`\mu `$m was found to be associated to the AGN, in Mrk 478 and Mrk 766 the L3.3/LIR ratio, a measurement of the energetic contribution of the starburst to the 8$``$1000 $`\mu `$m continuum, is comparable to the values measured in infrared luminous galaxies and pure starburst galaxies. This result indicates that the IR luminosity in these two objects is significantly powered by a starburst component. CO observations in the millimetre region support this scenario. A large mass of molecular gas is derived in the objects with clear identification of the 3.3 $`\mu `$m PAH feature. This gas is most probably located in the same region where the PAH is emitted, providing significant fuel capable of igniting and sustaining both AGN and star formation activity.

## Acknowledgments

This research have been supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) to S.M.V (proc. 00/06695) and PRONEX grant 662175/1996-4 to S.M.V and A.R.A. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We thank Dr. Masatoshi Imanishi, the referee, for useful suggestions which helped to improved this letter.


text:
# What we learn from the afterglow of GRB 021211

## 1 Introduction

Massive stars are observed to emit a dense stellar wind, continuously or in a sequence of eruptions, which presumably intensifies before their death as core-collapse supernovae (SNe). Indirect evidence for a large mass loss from the progenitor stars during their late-time evolution is provided by the absence of H lines (and He lines) in the spectra of SNe of Type Ib (Ic). In Type II SNe, direct evidence for a wind emitted shortly before the explosion is provided by the subsequent observations of emission by the circumburst material of narrow optical lines (e.g. Salamanca et al. 1998; 2002; Fassia et al. 2001), radio waves and X rays (for a recent review, see Chevalier 2003). All these observations indicate that the circumstellar density profile is $`\rho _wr^2`$, as expected from a quasi-steady stellar wind.

Gamma ray bursts (GRBs), in the cannonball (CB) model, are associated with the death of massive stars in core collapse SN explosions (Dar & De Rújula 2000a,b; Dado, Dar & De Rújula 2002a,b). Clear indications for this association are the effect of the progenitor’s wind on their early-time afterglow (AG) and the presence of a supernova in their late-time AG. In a CB-model analysis, there is very convincing evidence of a GRB–SN association (Dado et al. 20002a–e; 2003). The CB-model fingerprints of the massive wind of the progenitor star have also been spotted in the AGs, but never before with unquestionable certainty.

In this paper we fit the broad-band optical afterglow of GRB 021211 in the CB model, and extract information about the circumburst density profile, the associated SN and the host galaxy. We also rediscuss GRB 990123 and GRB 021004. In these three cases the AG was observed in the optical band early enough after the onset of the burst for the CBs to be still moving through the progenitor’s wind. The observed early AG decline, roughly $`t^{1.6}`$, is the CB-model expectation111We have claimed before that this behaviour ought to be $`t^2`$. In the case of GRB 990123, discussed in Dado et al. 2002a, that was due to our then-incomplete understanding of the AGs’ broad-band spectra, which we improved in Dado et al. 2002b. For GRB 021004 it was an error, which we correct here, although it is not relevant in practice (the early data on this AG are not sufficient to distinguish the two declines). for a wind density profile $`r^2`$. In the well measured early AG of GRB 021211, the agreement between the observations and the CB-model prediction is extremely satisfactory.

In the CB model we assumed GRBs to be associated with SNe similar to SN1998bw (Dar and De Rújula, 2000a). In subsequent work (Dado et al. 2002a–e; 2003) we found that, indeed, in all cases of GRBs of known $`z`$ in which such a SN was in practice visible (all cases with $`z<1.12`$), the CB-model fit to the corresponding AG disclosed its presence. GRB 021211, at $`z=1.006`$, is one more example: the fit clearly requires such a SN contribution, tentatively reported by Fruchter et al. (2002) and Testa et al. (2003). The CB model has so few parameters that we could determine via our fits the unknown contribution of the host galaxy of GRB 021211 to the different optical bands. The resulting broad-band spectrum snugly resembles that of other GRB host galaxies (e.g. Gorosabel et al. 2003) and star-forming galaxies at a similar $`z`$ (Fruchter et al. 2002).

In the CB model “dark” GRBs without AGs are not expected. But the AGs’ decline is expected to be often fairly fast, in particular if the interstellar medium (ISM) density is relatively high, making their detection difficult or, in the bygone days of slow GRB localization, nearly impossible; see Fig. 6 of Dado et al. (2002a) and its discussion. With faster detectors, more of these faint, fast-declining “quasi-dark” GRBs ought to be found, and GRB 021211 is an example. The detailed shape of the fast AG decline observed from 20 to 150 minutes, roughly as $`1/t`$, is well fit with an ISM whose density, beyond the reaches of the wind, is relatively high and approximately constant.

## 2 GRB 021211

The gamma ray burst 021211 was detected on December 11.471227 UT, 2002, with the HETE FREGATE, WXM, and SXC instruments. It was a relatively long-duration ($``$ 5.7 s in the 8–40 keV band), single-pulse GRB with a peak flux of $`8\times 10^7`$ erg cm-2 s-1 and a fluence of $`10^6`$ erg cm-2 (Crew et al. 2002). Its early-time optical AG was detected by the robotic telescopes RAPTOR (Wozniak et al. 2002), KAIT (Li et al. 2003) and S-LOTIS (Park et al. 2002), 90, 108 and 143 s after the burst, respectively. A fit to the KAIT first 9 data points, in the interval of 2.2–6.5 minutes after burst, showed a temporal decay with a power-law index of $`1.60\pm 0.02`$ and a fit to later data, taken 20 to 150 minutes after the GRB, gave a slope of $`0.96\pm 0.04`$ (Chornock et al. 2002), consistent with the decay seen by Price and Fox (2002a,b) who were first to report the detection and the precise localization of the optical AG. Follow-up observations in the optical, NIR and radio bands were reported by Fox et al. (2003) and by other groups in the GCN. The redshift of the host Galaxy, $`z=1.006\pm 0.002`$, was measured with VLT by Vreeswijk et al. (2002) and confirmed by Della Valle et al. (2003). A flattening of the light curve due to the host galaxy and a possible contribution from an associated SN were observed with HST 7 and 14 days after burst in the BVIH bands (Fruchter et al. 2002) and with VLT-UT4 between days 30 and 35 in the R band (Testa et al. 2003). Well-sampled optical AG observations have been recently reported by Li et al. (2003). The published observational data on the broad-band optical AG of GRB 021211 are shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

## 3 The CB model

In the CB model bipolar jets of CBs are launched axially in core-collapse SNe, with initial Lorentz factors $`\gamma _0=𝒪(10^3)`$. The CBs are assumed to be produced in an unstable accretion process, as in quasars and micro-quasars and, as in SS 433, to be made of ordinary matter222Balmer H and He lines (e.g., Eikenberry, et al. 2001) and the K$`\alpha `$ line of Fe (Migliari et al. 2002) were detected in the mildly relativistic CBs of this $`\mu `$-quasar.. Crossing the SN shell and the progenitor’s wind with a large $`\gamma `$, the front surface of a CB is collisionally heated to keV temperatures. The quasi-thermal radiation it emits, when no longer absorbed by the intervening matter, and boosted and collimated by its relativistic motion, is a single $`\gamma `$-ray pulse in a GRB. The cadence of pulses reflects the chaotic accretion and is not predictable, but the individual-pulse temporal and spectral properties are (Dar and De Rújula, 2000b; for recent reviews, see De Rújula 2002; Dar 2003). The ejected CBs, as observed in $`\mu `$-quasars, are assumed to contain a tangled magnetic field. As they plough through matter, they gather and magnetically scatter its constituent protons. The re-emitted protons exert an inward pressure on the CBs, which counters their expansion and makes them reach an asymptotic radius $`R_{_{CB}}`$, in minutes of observer’s time (Dado et al. 2002a). The electrons swept in by the CB in its voyage through the wind and ISM are Fermi-accelerated in the enclosed magnetic maze and cooled by synchrotron radiation. Shortly after the GRB, the optical radiation from the CB is dominated by synchrotron emission from these electrons. So far, the CB model was very successful in fitting the observed broad-band AGs of all GRBs of known redshift (Dado et al. 2002a–e, 2003).

## 4 The fate of a cannonball

Let $`n_p`$ be the baryonic number density of the circumburst material or the ISM, both dominated by protons. A spherical CB of radius $`R_{_{CB}}`$ flying through this material sees, in its rest system, an incoming flux of protons entering it with a total momentum per unit time $`\mathrm{\Pi }n_pm_pc^2\gamma ^2\pi R_{_{CB}}^2`$, with $`\gamma =\gamma (t)`$ the diminishing CB’s Lorentz factor. If the CB’s enclosed magnetic field randomizes these protons so that they are re-emitted isotropically, the CB’s surface is subject to an inward pressure $`P=\mathrm{\Pi }/(4\pi R_{_{CB}}^2)`$, which is independent of $`R_{_{CB}}`$. In Dado et al. 2002a we have assumed that this pressure is sustained by the equal and opposite pressure $`B^2/(8\pi )`$ of the CB’s enclosed magnetic field (which is thereby determined) resulting in an equilibrium situation for a CB of approximately constant $`R_{_{CB}}`$. We also assumed that $`R_{_{CB}}`$, for a CB originally expanding at a transverse velocity $`\beta _0c`$, can be estimated as the maximum expansion radius attained as the pressure $`P`$ opposes the expansion, that is $`R_{_{CB}}[3N_{_{CB}}\beta _0^2/(2\pi n_p\gamma _0^2)]^{1/3}`$, with $`N_{_{CB}}`$ the CB’s baryon number.

To test the above bold assumptions, we have fitted the model to all broad-band AGs of GRBs of known $`z`$, with satisfactory results. In Dado et al. (2002a) we have also tried a model with continuously expanding CBs, and found it to be completely inadequate, supporting the ansatz of CBs with constant radius. The estimated value of $`B10`$ Gauss (for $`n_p=10^2`$ cm-3 and $`\gamma _0=10^3`$) is adequate for the description of the data, but our original guess $`R_{_{CB}}=𝒪(10^{14})`$ cm turned out to be an overestimate by at least one order of magnitude (Dado et al. 2002b). In this paper we subject the CB’s defining property —that they reach an approximately constant radius— to a severe test, by studying in detail its consequences for very early AGs.

Let $`\theta `$ be the angle between the direction of a jet of CBs and the observer. The Doppler factor of the light the CB emits is well approximated by $`\delta (t)2\gamma (t)/(1+\theta ^2\gamma (t)^2)`$ in the domain of interest for GRBs: large $`\gamma `$ and small $`\theta `$ (typical values ensuing from our fits are $`\gamma _01/\theta 10^3`$). The relation between time —as measured by the observer— and distance —as travelled by the CB— is:

$$dx=\frac{\gamma \delta }{(1+z)}cdt.$$
(1)
The ambient protons that a CB scatters in the interval $`dx`$ slow it down by an amount333We call $`x`$ and not $`r`$ the distance from the progenitor, not to insinuate a hypothesis of spherical symmetry.:

$$d\gamma =\frac{\pi R_{_{CB}}^2n_p\gamma ^2}{N_{_{CB}}}dx,$$
(2)
where $`N_{_{CB}}`$ is the CB’s baryon number, for which our reference value is $`6\times 10^{50}`$. The function $`\gamma (t)`$ can be explicitly found by quadrature in the two cases of interest here: a density profile $`n(x)=n_w(x_w/x)^2`$ (for a “windy” neighbourhood) and a constant density (an adequate approximation as the CBs get further away into the ISM).

For an ISM of constant density, $`\gamma (t)`$ depends on $`\theta `$, on the initial $`\gamma =\gamma _0`$ as a CB exits the denser wind domain, and on $`x_{\mathrm{}}=N_{_{CB}}/(\pi n_pR_{_{CB}}^2)`$, a deceleration parameter. The value of $`\gamma (t)`$ is the real root of the cubic:

$$\frac{1}{\gamma ^3}\frac{1}{\gamma _0^3}+3\theta ^2\left[\frac{1}{\gamma }\frac{1}{\gamma _0}\right]=\frac{6ct}{(1+z)x_{\mathrm{}}}.$$
(3)
It takes a distance $`x_{1/2}=x_{\mathrm{}}/\gamma _0`$ for $`\gamma (t)`$ to descend to $`\gamma _0/2`$. Our fitted values of $`x_{1/2}`$ are in the range 0.1 to 1 kpc, corresponding to AGs that fade in the observed characteristic times of order $`(1+z)x_{1/2}/(c\delta _0)`$ $``$ days. This range may be affected by an observational bias: AGs with a smaller $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$ (e.g. those with CBs moving in a relatively high density ISM) decay faster in time and are “quasi-dark”: harder to detect. GRB 021211 is one such case.

We do not report the function $`\gamma (t)`$ for the small values of $`t`$ corresponding to the CBs crossing the parent stellar wind, since, for typical parameters, the fractional energy loss $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma /\gamma `$ is negligible in that interval. The “canonical” stellar wind of a very massive star has a rate $`\dot{M}_w10^4M_{}`$ y-1 and a velocity $`v_w100`$ km/s, so that $`\rho (x)\rho _w(x_w/x)^2`$ with $`\rho _wx_w^2\dot{M}_w/(4\pi v_w)5.1\times 10^{13}`$ g cm-1, or $`n_wx_w^23\times 10^{37}`$ cm-1. The actual observations of $`M_w`$ and $`v_w`$ span an order of magnitude around these canonical values. It follows from Eq. (2) that the condition $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma /\gamma 1`$, for a wind profile extending from $`x_i`$ to $`x_fx_i`$, is $`R_{_{CB}}^2N_{_{CB}}x_i/(\pi n_wx_w^2\gamma )`$. For observations starting at $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=100`$ s after burst, $`z=1`$ and typical $`\gamma =\delta =10^3`$, $`x_i=c\gamma \delta \mathrm{\Delta }t/(1+z)=0.5`$ pc, and the constraint is $`R_{_{CB}}<10^{14}`$ cm, which we have found to be amply satisfied (Dado et al. 2002b).

The fact that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma /\gamma `$ is typically small as the wind is crossed has, as we shall see anon, an important consequence: the shape of the early optical AG locally and directly reflects the shape of the circumburst density profile.

## 5 The GRB afterglow in the CB model

The AG —the persistent radiation in the direction of an observed GRB— has three origins: the ejected CBs, the concomitant SN explosion, and the host galaxy (HG). These components are usually unresolved in the observed “GRB afterglows”, so that the light curves and spectra are measures of the corresponding cumulative energy flux density: $`F_{_{AG}}=F_{_{CBs}}+F_{SN}+F_{_{HG}}.`$ In all observed cases, but one (GRB 021004, discussed in Dado et al. 2003), it is sufficient to approximate the ensemble of CBs in the AG phase as a single (or dominant) CB.

The contribution $`F_{SN}`$ of the SNe is approximated by that of SN1998bw (Galama et al. 1998), displaced to the GRB’s redshift444The cosmological parameters we use are: $`\mathrm{H}_0=65`$ km/(s Mpc), $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$.. In the CB model the pair GRB 980425 & SN1998bw is in no way exceptional (but for the accidentally small $`z`$ and large $`\theta `$ of the GRB). Thus, the use of SN1998bw as a candidate GRB-associated standard candle makes sense.

The optical AG of a CB is dominated by synchrotron radiation from the ISM electrons that penetrate in it. We argued in Dado et al. (2002b) that these electrons are Fermi-accelerated in the CB-enclosed magnetic maze and cooled by synchrotron radiation to a distribution (in the CB’s rest system) $`dn_e/dEE^2`$ below the injection bend energy at which they enter the CB ($`E_b=\gamma (t)m_ec^2`$); and to a distribution $`dn_e/dEE^{(p+1)}`$ above $`E_b`$, with $`p=2`$ in analytical approximations and $`p=2.2`$ in numerical simulations. The emitted synchrotron radiation has a corresponding double power-law form $`\nu dn_\gamma /d\nu \nu ^\alpha `$, with a power-law index $`\alpha _l0.5`$ well below a bend frequency $`\nu _b`$, and $`\alpha _h=p/21.1`$ well above it. Broad-band fits to the data on the AGs of all GRBs of known $`z`$ result in $`\alpha _l0.6\pm 0.1`$, $`\alpha _h1.1\pm 0.1`$. In practice $`\alpha _l`$ is less well determined than $`\alpha _h`$, the CB-model fits being good even for a fixed $`\alpha _h=1.1`$. We attribute this to the fact that the extracted $`\alpha _h`$ is sensitive to the AG light-curve at relatively late times, when CBs are typically hundreds of parsecs away from the progenitor and the absorption in the host, which is hard to ascertain, may be minimal.

The value of $`E_b`$ and the estimate of the CB’s magnetic field described in the previous section allow us to estimate the bend frequency of the synchrotron-radiation spectrum:

$$\nu _b(t)\frac{1.87\times 10^3[\gamma (t)]^3\delta (t)}{1+z}\left[\frac{n_p(x)}{10^3\mathrm{cm}^3}\right]^{1/2}\mathrm{Hz}.$$
(4)
In the observer frame, this radiation is Doppler-boosted and collimated by the relativistic motion of the CB, and redshifted by the cosmic expansion. Its explicit form, extending from radio to X-ray frequencies, is given in Eqs. (4,6,8) of Dado et al. 2002b; here we only report its behaviour near the optical domain, which is simple above and below the injection bend. Let $`\alpha =(\alpha _l,\alpha _h)=(0.5,1.1)`$ be the predicted power indices at $`\nu \nu _b`$ and $`\nu \nu _b`$, respectively. The time and frequency dependence of the energy fluence in these limits is:

$$F_\nu A^{}(\nu ,t)n_e^{(1+\alpha )/2}[\gamma (t)]^{3\alpha 1}[\delta (t)]^{3+\alpha }\nu ^\alpha ,$$
(5)
where $`n_e=n_e(x)n_p(x)`$ is the electron density along the CBs’ trajectory and $`A^{}(\nu ,t)`$ corrects for absorption in the host galaxy and in ours, its possible time dependence originating in the kiloparsec length of the CBs’ trajectory in the host galaxy. Self-absorption in the CB is irrelevant at the optical and NIR wavelengths relevant here. In the CB model the early AG is dominated by the last significant pulse (or CB) of the GRB, so that $`t`$ in Eq. (5) is the time after that pulse. The nuance may be significant at very small $`t`$.

In deriving Eq. (5) we have assumed that a fixed fraction of the energy-deposition rate by ISM electrons in a CB ($`\pi R_{_{CB}}^2n_em_ec^3\gamma ^2`$, in the CB’s system) is re-emitted as the AG. The AG spectrum is a function of $`\nu `$ and $`\nu _b`$, so that at fixed $`\nu `$ it depends on $`n_e=n_p`$ via $`\nu _b`$, as in Eq. (4). Thus a result which is not linear in $`n_e`$, and peculiar at first sight.

In our fits we assume as the circumburst density profile a constant plus a “windy” term:

$$n(x)=n_0+n_w(x_w/x)^2n_0[1+(\overline{x}/x)^2].$$
(6)
## 6 The very early optical AG

For typical parameters, the first few parsecs of a CB’s voyage —as it crosses the “wind” material emitted by the progenitor star— are seen by an observer in the first few minutes of the AG. During that “early” time, the ambient density is high enough for $`\nu _b`$, as in Eq. (4), to be comfortably above the optical frequencies, so that $`\alpha =\alpha _l=0.5`$ in Eq. (5). We have seen that, at “early” times, a CB has its Lorentz factor insignificantly changed by collisions with the wind material, so that the observer’s time and the CB’s travelled distance, as in Eq. (1), are strictly proportional. Thus Eqs. (5,6) collapse to:

$$F_\nu n_e^{(1+\alpha )/2}\left[1+\left(\overline{t}/t\right)^2\right]^{3/4}.$$
(7)
Had we used the observed $`\alpha _l=0.6\pm 0.1`$, as opposed to the naive theoretical $`\alpha _l=0.5`$, we would have obtained $`F_\nu t^{1.6}`$ at veary early times, in close agreement with the fit by Chornock et al. (2002) for GRB 021211, and the observations of Akerlof et al. (1999) for GRB 990123 and Fox et al. (2002) for GRB 021004. But we shall see that Eq. (7) provides an excellent fit to the data. The observed deviations relative to the smooth curve of Eq. (7) reflect the variations of the wind that generated the profile. In the case of GRB 021211, these variations are at the $`10`$% level (Li et al. 2003).

## 7 The overall AG of GRB 021211 in the CB model

The copious early data on GRB 021211 obtained by Li et al. (2003), along with all other data communicated in the GCN notices quoted in section 2 and in Fox et al. 2003 are shown in Fig. 1 for the R-band, and in Fig. 2 for the broad-band optical (IRVB) and NIR (HKJ) passbands. In fitting these results we neglect the unknown extinction in the host, due to the lack of relevant spectral information555An unabsorbed SN1998bw-like contribution fits the late-time broad-band data, indicating that host extinction is not large.. For this GRB the R-band data are relatively so copious that it is useful to perform separate R-band and broad-band fits.

In our fit, the density is that of Eq. (6) and the limiting exponents in the synchrotron spectrum $`\nu ^\alpha `$ are set to their theoretical values $`(\alpha _l,\alpha _h)=(0.5,1.1)`$. The fit is made with the complete analytical broad-band predictions Eqs. (4,6,8) of Dado et al. 2002b, of which Eq. (5) are the limiting behaviours and Eq. (3) is the deceleration law. The best fitted parameters for the R-band fit shown in Fig. 1 are $`\gamma _0=262`$, $`\theta =1.76`$ mrad (i.e. $`\delta _0=431`$) and $`x_{\mathrm{}}=4.7`$ kpc, with 51 d.o.f. and $`\chi ^2/(\mathrm{d}.\mathrm{o}.\mathrm{f}.)=0.97`$ if the out-lying point at $`t2`$ days is eliminated. The constant contribution of the host galaxy was left as a free parameter, for which the fit returned $`F_{_{HG}}=0.34\mu `$Jy. The contribution of a standard-candle SN1998bw at the GRB position is discernible in Fig. 1, in which $`F_{_{HG}}`$ has been subtracted.

We have also tried a fit with an arbitrary power $`a`$ in the windy term: $`n_w(x_w/x)^a`$, resulting in a best fitted $`a=1.92\pm 0.03`$, close to the “canonical” expectation $`a=2`$. Thus, the agreement of the fits with the canonical “windy” power is not a consequence of the scarcity of data. Also, at early times, the fit is totally insensitive to the other parameters ($`\gamma _0`$, $`\theta `$ and $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$). Thus, the result for $`a`$ is robust: the signature of a wind is there.

The overall normalization of the AG is also a free parameter in our fits; it is proportional to the ambient density $`n(x)`$, to the CBs’ cross sections, to their number, and to the unknown fraction of the energy of the gathered ISM electrons that is re-emitted as the AG. Thus, extracting a value of $`n(x)`$ from the fit normalization requires extra assumptions. Yet, the value of $`n(x)`$ at some reference distance (e.g. $`n_0`$, its limiting value at large distance) can be extracted from the fact that we use it as a free parameter in the expression of Eq. (4) for $`\nu _b`$. The fitted result is $`n_0=(2.97\pm 0.22)`$ cm-3. Combined with the fitted value $`\overline{x}=1.2`$ pc in Eq.(6), this yields $`\rho _wx_w^2=m_pn_wx_w^2=(6.8\pm 0.5)\times 10^{13}`$ g cm-1, compatible with the expectation, quoted in section 4, for a “canonical wind”: $`5.1\times 10^{13}`$ g cm-1.

The wide-band fit is shown in Fig. 2; it has essentially the same fit parameters as the R-band fit. The contributions $`F_{_{HG}}`$ of the host galaxy in the different bands, resulting from the fit, are 0.50, 0.34, 0.23 and 0.23 $`\mu `$Jy for the IRV and B bands, respectively. This extracted spectrum, and in particular its flattening above the V frequencies, is compatible with that of other GRB hosts (e.g. Gorosabel et al. 2003) and star-forming galaxies at $`z1`$ (e.g. Fruchter et al. 2002).

The comparison we have described between the CB-model expectations and the data for GRB 021211 is simply spectacular. The fits are good, particularly that to the shape of the R-band light curves. The agreement between the expected and extracted ambient density profiles is eery. A word of caution, however, is necessary. The number of parameters in our fits is high: the “ambient” parameters describing the host galaxy ($`F_{_{HG}}`$) and the density profile ($`n_0`$ and $`\overline{x}`$), the observer’s viewing angle $`\theta `$, and the 3 quantities that are specific to the CBs: the overall AG normalization, $`\gamma _0`$ and $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$. Even if the fitted ambient parameters turn out to have the expected values, a model with this many parameters has to be very wrong not to describe a very simple surface: the fluence as a function of frequency and time666It is possible to construct models that disagree with observation or are unphysical, but have even more parameters. For the case of GRB 991208, see section 2 of Dado et al. 2002e.. Moreover, the data are not cross-calibrated, their systematic errors are unknown, the model is no doubt a simplification of a very complicated phenomenon, and the parameters are not uncorrelated (except at the early times of particular interest here). As a consequence of all this, the “formal errors” of the parameters (as given by the standard program MINUIT) are no doubt underestimated. Whence our habit of not always making the errors explicit.

## 8 The radio AG of GRB 021211

In the CB model the radio AG at early time is suppressed because of limb darkening and the finite time it takes the electrons gathered by a CB to cool radiatively and reach an energy at which they emit synchrotron radiation of a given typical frequency (Dado et al. 2002b). At later times the radio emission, like the optical and X-ray emission, becomes proportional to a high power of the Lorentz factor. In the case of the radio AG of GRB 021211, only upper limits (or perhaps marginal detections) have been reported, by Hoge et al. (2002) and Fox et al. (2002). The later authors, who analyze the AG in detail, consider the absence of a stronger radio signal to be a problem. In the CB model, it is not.

The wide-band spectrum of AGs is, in the CB model, very simple. Its only feature —besides the bend frequency that we have discussed— is due to self-absorption in the CB, and it is described by a single parameter $`\nu _a`$ (Dado et al. 2002b). In the case of GRB 021211 we cannot fix this parameter, having no single secure radio signal. The best we can do is to show, by way of example, what the radio signal would be if the value of $`\nu _a`$ was similar to the average for other radio AGs ($`\overline{\nu }_a1`$ GHz) or to the value for GRB 021004 (0.98 GHz), which is otherwise akin to GRB 021211, and is very well described by the CB model (Dado et al. 2003). The result of this exercise is shown in Fig. 4, and it is compatible with the observational limits or marginal detections: the largest “signals” reported in Fox et al. 2002 are $`45\pm 23`$ and $`60\pm 38`$ $`\mu `$Jy, at $`t5,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}`$ days, both at 8.46 GHz, while Hoge et al. (2002) obtain a 3$`\sigma `$ upper limit of 7.5 mJy at 347 GHz, on day $`t1`$.

## 9 The GRB proper

In the CB model, the fluence $`F`$ from a GRB viewed at a small $`\theta `$, is amplified by a huge factor $`\delta _0^3`$, due to Doppler boosting and relativistic collimation (Dar & De Rújula 2000):

$$F=\frac{(1+z)\delta _0^3}{4\pi D_L^2}E_\gamma ,$$
(8)
where $`E_\gamma `$ is the total energy in photons emitted by CBs in their rest system. The total “equivalent spherical”, or would-be isotropic energy, $`E^{iso}`$, inferred from the observed fluence, is a factor $`(\delta _0)^3`$ larger than $`E_\gamma `$. In Dado et al. 2002a we deduced that the $`E_\gamma `$ values of the GRBs of known $`z`$ span the surprisingly narrow777GRBs in the CB model are much better standard candles than in the standard model (Frail et al. 2001). interval $`10^{44\pm 0.3}`$ erg, the spread in $`E^{iso}`$ being mainly due to the spread in their values of $`\delta _0`$ (deduced from the fits to their AGs). For GRB 021211, the CB-model expectation is $`E^{iso}\delta _0^3E_\gamma 0.8\times 10^{52\pm 0.3}`$ erg, in agreement with the observed $`E^{iso}1\times 10^{52}`$ erg, deduced from its measured redshift ($`z=1.006`$; Vreeswijk et al. 2002) and fluence in the 8–40 keV band ($`10^6`$ erg cm-2; Crew et al. 2002).

## 10 GRBs 990123 and 021004

The AG of these two GRBs was also observed particularly early, by Akerlof et al. (1999) in the case of GRB 990123. We have recalibrated their data assuming $`VR=0.28`$ mag (our predicted $`\alpha _l=0.5`$), rather than a constant colour. We have also recalibrated the later-time data compiled in Castro-Tirado et al. 1999; Kulkarni et al. 1999; Galama et al. 1999 and Fruchter et al. 1999, assuming $`Rr=0.015`$ mag ($`\alpha _l=0.5`$). The R-band results of our broad-band fit are shown in Fig. 4, in which $`t=0`$ corresponds to the start of the last (second) prominent pulse in the GRB, 37s after trigger (Briggs et al. 1999). There is an excellent agreement between the early data tracing the circumburst windy density and the prediction of Eq. (6). A fit with an arbitrary power $`a`$ in the windy term, $`n_w(x_w/x)^a`$, results in a best-fitted $`a=1.98\pm 0.06`$, again in agreement with the “canonical” expectation: $`a=2`$.

Though the data have been recalibrated, the parameters we fit to the AG of GRB 990123 are close to those in Dado et al. 2002a,b. In particular $`\gamma _0=1204`$ and $`\delta _0=1630`$ —determined from the shape of the AG— are the highest for any GRB of known $`z`$, implying that the magnitude of the GRB and AG fluences should also be record-breaking, as they are (even for this GRB, the value of $`E_\gamma `$ in Eq. (8) is not exceptional). Since $`\gamma `$ and $`\delta `$ are so large, the bend frequency $`\nu _b`$ of Eq. (4) “crosses” the optical band very late in time, where the data are quite imprecise. As a consequence, the R-band and wide-band fits are very insensitive to $`\nu _b`$, and we cannot reliably use its value to determine the absolute magnitude of the ambient and wind densities. If we assume that the density profile $`n_wx_w^2`$ prevails until $`n_w`$ declines to the typical superbubble or halo value, $`n_p10^3`$, we find that $`\rho _wx_w^2=m_pn_px_w^24.2\times 10^{13}`$ g cm-1, again in agreement with the expectation, quoted in section 4, for a “canonical wind”: $`5.1\times 10^{13}`$ g cm-1. The windy profile would in this case extend all the way to $`x_w50`$ pc, yielding a total mass loss of $`40M_{}`$ during the life of the very massive progenitor star. Such a large total mass loss is not unusual for the progenitors of SNe of Type Ib and Ic.

The CB-model fit to the R-band AG of GRB 021004 is shown in Fig. 5. The data are those measured and compiled by Fox et al. 2002; Holland et al. 2002; Pandey et al. 2002 and Bersier et al. 2003. Once more, the agreement between the prediction of Eq. (6) and the early data is good, though these data are neither as abundant nor as close to the GRB trigger as for the other two cases we discussed, implying that we cannot claim to have clearly spotted, for this GRB, a typical windy profile. The fitted result for the asymptotic density is $`n_0=(4.08\pm 0.17)\times 10^3`$ cm-3. Combined with the fitted value $`\overline{x}5.1`$ pc in Eq. (6), this yields $`\rho _wx_w^2=m_pn_wx_w^21.7\times 10^{12}`$ g cm-1, a bit over an order of magnitude below the central “canonical” expectation.

## 11 Discussion and conclusions

It is, as usual, interesting to compare the CB model with the standard fireball or blast-wave models of GRBs. For GRB 021211 a detailed SM analysis is given in Fox et al. 2003. The relevant issues at hand concern the signatures for “windy” neighbourhoods, and the predictive power for early AGs888For Fox et al. (2003) the non-observation of a radio AG is also significant, suggesting that “the burst may have suffered substantial radiative corrections”. No such specific cure is necessary in the CB model..

In the standard model (SM) the scarcity of AGs indicating a windy circumburst density distribution is a problem, admitted even by its staunchest defenders (Piran 2001; Price et al. 2002). In the CB model all the observed AGs that should show a windy signature do. Indeed, the relation Eq. (1) between observer’s time and CBs travelled distance implies that, for the typical $`\gamma _0\delta _010^3`$, the AG of a GRB at a cosmological distance must be “caught” within the first few minutes for the CBs to be still travelling close enough to the parent star, so that the contribution of its wind to the ambient density is still significant and observable. Only the three GRBs that we have discussed pertain to this category.

In the SM the fast-decreasing “early” optical AG, as first observed in GRB 990123, is generally attributed to a reverse shock (Mészáros and Rees 1999). For GRB 021211, this is the interpretation spoused by the observers (Fox et al. 2003; Li et al. 2003). In this view the index of the approximate power law of the decay of the early AG is not fixed, and its normalization is unrelated to that of the late AG. In the CB model, contrariwise, the early optical AG does not have its own separate origin: it is made by the very same mechanism as the late AG. The temporal shape of the AG is not a succession of power laws with breaks between different mechanisms or regimes. This temporal shape is not arbitrary: at early times it is directly related to the shape of the circumburst density profile, as in Eq. (7), and this relation is fully vindicated by the data for the expected windy profile. The AGs shown in our figures depend, in the “early” domain, on only one parameter: the absolute normalization. The ambient density that defines the early temporal shape can also be extracted from the CB-model fit, via the bend frequency of Eq. (4), and its magnitude turns out to coincide with the expected density for the canonical wind of a heavy star.

Fast-declining optical light curves —masquerading as “dark” AGs— are expected in the CB model (Dado et al. 2002a), and GRB 021211 is an example. The CB-model fit to its AG has allowed us to infer the presence of an associated SN akin to SN1998bw, as for all other GRBs where the SN could in practice be detected. The fit also yields the “colour” of the host galaxy, which is the expected one.

We have seen how, concerning the early optical AGs, the CB model is very predictive and successful. In previous works we have shown this to be the case also for all properties of the AGs of all GRBs of known redshift: they can all be described in a simple, analytical and parameter-thrifty manner, which does not involve multiple choices, multiple mechanisms and multiple exceptions. To put it in a way with which even the most allegiant apologists of the SM might agree: the contrast between the CB model and the standard model is striking.

Acknowledgement: This research was supported in part by the Helen Asher Space Research Fund and by the VPR fund for research at the Technion. One of us, Arnon Dar, is grateful for hospitality at the CERN Theory Division.