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# Thermodynamics of a Trapped Bose-Fermi Mixture

## Abstract

By using the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations within the Popov approximation, we investigate the thermodynamic properties of a dilute binary Bose-Fermi mixture confined in an isotropic harmonic trap. For mixtures with an attractive Bose-Fermi interaction we find a sizable enhancement of the condensate fraction and of the critical temperature of Bose-Einstein condensation with respect to the predictions for a pure interacting Bose gas. Conversely, the influence of the repulsive Bose-Fermi interaction is less pronounced. The possible relevance of our results in current experiments on trapped $`{}_{}{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}^{40}`$K mixtures is discussed.

The recent experimental realization of ultracold trapped Bose-Fermi (BF) mixtures of alkali-metal atoms introduces an interesting new instance of a quantum many-body system hulet ; ketterle ; inguscio , and has also stimulated a number of theoretical investigations that address, for example, the static property molmer , the phase diagram and phase separation nygaard , stability conditions roth  and collective excitations japan ; capuzzi ; liu  of trapped BF mixtures. These investigations have mainly concentrated at zero temperature using the standard Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation for the Bose gas, in which all the bosonic atoms are assumed to be in the Bose condensate. An extension of these theories at finite temperatures where the condensate is strongly depleted is therefore of high interest, and will also have practical applications. In the theory for a pure Bose gas, the simplest generalization of the GP equation including the effect of the noncondensed atoms in a self-consistent manner is the Popov version of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) approximation griffin . As discussed in Ref. griffin , this approximation is expected to be good for both low and high temperatures.

In this paper, we generalize the HFB-Popov approximation to binary BF mixtures and address the question of how the BF interaction affects the thermodynamic properties of mixtures. We calculate self-consistently the temperature-dependent density profiles of mixtures, as well as the condensate fraction and the critical temperature of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), at various BF interaction strengths. Our present results provide the first self-consistent calculation of these thermodynamic quantities within the HFB-Popov theory which goes beyond the semiclassical approximation used previously for determining the critical temperature albus ; ma  and density profiles of binary BF mixtures tosi . Our calculations also show a highly nonlinear dependence of these quantities on the BF interaction. In the presence of the BF attraction, the thermal depletion of the condensate is remarkably decreased and the critical temperature is shifted towards high temperatures. Conversely, the repulsive BF interaction affects the condensate fraction and critical temperature in the opposite direction. However, its influence is less pronounced compared to the attractive case.

The HFB-Popov mean-field theory for an inhomogeneous interacting Bose gas has been derived in detail by Griffin in Ref. griffin . The generalization of this theory to a dilute binary BF mixture is straightforward. Here we merely give a brief summary of basic equations and emphasize the necessary modification in the presence of the BF interaction. The trapped dilute mixture is portrayed as a thermodynamic equilibrium system under the grand canonical ensemble whose thermodynamic variables are $`N_b`$ and $`N_f`$, respectively, the total number of trapped bosonic and fermionic atoms, $`T`$, the absolute temperature, and $`\mu _b`$ and $`\mu _f`$, the chemical potentials. The density Hamiltonian of the system is given by (in units of $`\mathrm{}=1`$)

$``$ $`=`$ $`_b+_f+_{bf},`$
$`_b`$ $`=`$ $`\psi ^+(𝐫)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{2m_b}}+V_{trap}^b(𝐫)\mu _b\right]\psi (𝐫)+{\displaystyle \frac{g_{bb}}{2}}\psi ^+\psi ^+\psi \psi ,`$
$`_f`$ $`=`$ $`\varphi ^+(𝐫)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{2m_f}}+V_{trap}^f(𝐫)\mu _f\right]\varphi (𝐫),`$
$`_{bf}`$ $`=`$ $`g_{bf}\psi ^+(𝐫)\psi (𝐫)\varphi ^+(𝐫)\varphi (𝐫),`$ (1)
where $`\psi (𝐫)`$ ($`\varphi (𝐫)`$) is the Bose (Fermi) field operator that annihilates an atom at position $`𝐫`$. Here we consider a spherically symmetric system, with trap potentials $`V_{trap}^{b,f}(𝐫)=m_{b,f}\omega _{b,f}^2r^2/2`$, where $`m_{b,f}`$ are the atomic masses and $`\omega _{b,f}`$ are the trap frequencies. The interaction between bosons and between bosons and fermions are described by the contact potentials and are parameterized by the coupling constants $`g_{bb}=4\pi \mathrm{}^2a_{bb}/m_b`$ and $`g_{bf}=2\pi \mathrm{}^2a_{bf}/m_r`$ in terms of the $`s`$-wave scattering lengths $`a_{bb}`$ and $`a_{bf}`$, with $`m_r=m_bm_f/(m_{b+}m_f)`$ being the reduced mass. We neglect here the fermion-fermion interactions, since we are considering a spin-polarized Fermi gas where $`s`$-wave collisions are forbidden by the Pauli principle. In the dilute regime, we may treat the density Hamiltonian describing the BF coupling in a self-consistent mean-field manner, namely,

$$_{bf}g_{bf}\left[\psi ^+\psi \varphi ^+\varphi +\psi ^+\psi \varphi ^+\varphi \psi ^+\psi \varphi ^+\varphi \right].$$

This kind of decomposition has been used extensively for theoretical investigations of BF mixtures at zero temperature note .

To the Bose field operator $`\psi (𝐫,t)`$, we shall apply the usual decomposition into a $`c`$-number part plus an operator with vanishing expectation value: $`\psi (𝐫,t)=\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)e^{i(\epsilon _0\mu _b)t}+\stackrel{~}{\psi }(𝐫)`$. $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)`$ represents the condensate wave function with eigenvalue $`\epsilon _0`$ and the operator $`\stackrel{~}{\psi }(𝐫)`$ represents the excitations of the condensate. This ansatz is then inserted in the equation of motion for $`\psi (𝐫,t)`$:

$$i\frac{\psi }{t}=\left[\frac{^2}{2m_b}+V_{trap}^b\mu _b\right]\psi +g_{bb}\psi ^+\psi \psi +g_{bf}\varphi ^+\varphi \psi .$$
(2)
The statistical average over Eq. (2) and the replacement of the cubic term $`\stackrel{~}{\psi }^+\stackrel{~}{\psi }\stackrel{~}{\psi }`$ by the average in the mean-field approximation $`2\stackrel{~}{\psi }^+\stackrel{~}{\psi }\stackrel{~}{\psi }`$ with neglecting the anomalous expectation value $`\stackrel{~}{\psi }\stackrel{~}{\psi }`$ and its complex conjugate lead to the generalized GP equation,

$$_{GP}\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)=0,$$
(3)
where $`_{GP}^2/2m_b+V_{trap}^b\epsilon _0+g_{bb}(n_c(𝐫)+2\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫))+g_{bf}n_f(𝐫)`$ with the local density of the condensate $`n_c(𝐫)=\left|\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)\right|^2`$, of the depletion $`\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫)=\stackrel{~}{\psi }^+(𝐫,t)\stackrel{~}{\psi }(𝐫,t)`$, and of the Fermi gas $`n_f(𝐫)=\varphi ^+(𝐫,t)\varphi (𝐫,t)`$. The condensate wave function in Eq. (3) is normalized to $`N_c=1/(e^{\beta (\epsilon _0\mu _b)}1)`$ with $`\beta =(k_BT)^1`$.

The subtraction of Eq. (3) from Eq. (2) gives rise to two coupled equations of motion for $`\stackrel{~}{\psi }(𝐫,t)`$ and its adjoint, which can be solved by the usual Bogoliubov transformation, $`\stackrel{~}{\psi }(𝐫,t)=_i\left[u_i(𝐫)\widehat{\alpha }_ie^{iϵ_it}+v_i^{}(𝐫)\widehat{\alpha }_i^+e^{iϵ_it}\right]`$, to the new Bose operators $`\widehat{\alpha }_i`$ and $`\widehat{\alpha }_i^+`$. This gives the coupled Bogoliubov-deGennes (BdG) equations,

$`\left[_{GP}+g_{bb}n_c(𝐫)\right]u_i(𝐫)+g_{bb}n_c(𝐫)v_i(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ_iu_i(𝐫),`$
$`\left[_{GP}+g_{bb}n_c(𝐫)\right]v_i(𝐫)+g_{bb}n_c(𝐫)u_i(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ_iv_i(𝐫).`$ (4)
These equations define the quasiparticle excitation energies $`ϵ_i`$ relative to the condensate eigenvalue $`\epsilon _0`$, and the quasiparticle amplitudes $`u_i`$ and $`v_i`$. Once these quantities have been determined, the density of the depletion is obtained in terms of the thermal number of quasiparticles $`\widehat{\alpha }_i^+\widehat{\alpha }_i=(ze^{\beta ϵ_i}1)^1`$ by

$`\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\stackrel{~}{n}_i(𝐫)\mathrm{\Theta }(E_c^bϵ_i)+{\displaystyle \underset{E_c^b}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑ϵ\stackrel{~}{n}(ϵ,𝐫),`$ (5)
$`\stackrel{~}{n}_i(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\left|u_i(𝐫)\right|^2+\left|v_i(𝐫)\right|^2}{ze^{\beta ϵ_i}1}}+\left|v_i(𝐫)\right|^2,`$
$`\stackrel{~}{n}(ϵ,𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_b^{3/2}}{\sqrt{2}\pi ^2}}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{ze^{\beta ϵ}1}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{2ϵ_{HF}}}\right\}`$
$`\times (ϵ_{HF}V_{trap}^b+\epsilon _02g_{bb}n_b(𝐫)g_{bf}n_f(𝐫))^{1/2},`$
where $`z=e^{\beta (\epsilon _0\mu _b)}=1+1/N_c`$, $`ϵ_{HF}=(ϵ^2+g_{bb}^2n_c^2(𝐫))^{1/2}`$ and $`n_b(𝐫)=n_c(𝐫)+\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫)`$ is the total density of the Bose gas. In the above equations, to eliminate the numerical errors due to the necessary truncation of the numerical basis set, we adopt the strategy of Ref. reidl  and introduce an energy cutoff $`E_c^b`$, above which the semiclassical local-density approximation has been employed.

To solve the generalized GP and BdG equations, one has to find the local density of the Fermi gas $`n_f(𝐫)`$. To this end, we insert $`\varphi (𝐫,t)=_i\phi _i(𝐫)\widehat{c}_ie^{iϵ_it}`$ in Eq. (1) to diagonalize the quadratic Hamiltonian for $`\varphi (𝐫,𝐭)`$ in terms of the new Fermi operator $`\widehat{c}_i`$ that annihilates a fermion at state $`\phi _i(𝐫)`$. This leads to a stationary Schrödinger equation for $`\phi _i(𝐫)`$,

$$\left[\frac{^2}{2m_f}+V_{trap}^f+g_{bf}(n_c+\stackrel{~}{n})\right]\phi _i=ϵ_i\phi _i.$$
(6)
The density of the Fermi gas is thus obtained by

$`n_f(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}n_{fi}(𝐫)\mathrm{\Theta }(E_c^fϵ_i)+{\displaystyle \underset{E_c^f}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑ϵn_f(ϵ,𝐫),`$ (7)
$`n_{fi}(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`\left|\phi _i(𝐫)\right|^2\widehat{c}_i^+\widehat{c}_i,`$
$`n_f(ϵ,𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_f^{3/2}}{\sqrt{2}\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{e^{\beta (ϵ\mu _f)}+1}}(ϵV_{trap}^fg_{bf}n_b(𝐫))^{1/2},`$
where $`\widehat{c}_i^+\widehat{c}_i=(e^{\beta (ϵ_i\mu _f)}+1)^1`$ is the Fermi distribution. Analogously to Eq. (5) we have applied the finite-temperature Thomas-Fermi (TF) approximation only for high-lying Fermi levels above an energy cutoff $`E_c^f`$ to avoid the truncation errors.

Equations (3)-(7) form a closed system of equations that we have referred to as the “HFB-Popov” equations for a dilute BF mixture. We have numerically solved these equations by an iterative procedure as follows: The generalized GP and BdG equations are first solved self-consistently for $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)`$, $`u_i(𝐫)`$, and $`v_i(𝐫)`$ as described in Ref. griffin  to evaluate $`n_c(𝐫)`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫)`$, with $`n_f(𝐫)`$ set to the result for an ideal Fermi gas. Once $`n_c(𝐫)`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫)`$ are known, the eigenfunctions in Eq. (6) are obtained numerically and are used to update $`n_f(𝐫)`$ in Eq. (7). This newly generated $`n_f(𝐫)`$ is then inserted in the GP and BdG equations and the process is iterated to convergence. At each step, the chemical potentials for the Bose gas and the Fermi gas are fixed by the normalization conditions, $`𝑑𝐫n_b(𝐫)=N_b`$ and $`𝑑𝐫n_f(𝐫)=N_f`$, respectively.

As an illustration of this procedure, we consider a mixture of 2000 $`{}_{}{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}`$ (boson) and 2000 40K (fermion) atoms in an isotropic harmonic trap, for which the order parameter $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)`$, the quasiparticle amplitudes $`u_i(𝐫)`$ and $`v_i(𝐫)`$, and the orbits $`\phi _i(𝐫)`$ can be labelled by $`(n,l,m)`$, according to the number of nodes in the radial solution $`n`$, the orbital angular momentum $`l`$, and its projection $`m`$. In addition, we use the following parameters inguscio : $`m_b=1.45\times 10^{25}`$ kg, $`\omega _b=2\pi \times 216`$ Hz, $`m_f/m_b=0.463`$, $`\omega _f/\omega _b=1.47`$, $`a_{bb}=99a_0`$, and $`a_{bf}=410a_0`$, where $`a_0=0.529`$ $`\mathrm{\AA }`$ is the Bohr radius. Because our calculations are especially delicate near the critical temperature, we have taken $`n_{\mathrm{max}}=32`$, $`l_{\mathrm{max}}=64`$ and high energy cutoffs of $`E_c^b=60\mathrm{}\omega _b`$ and $`E_c^f=90\mathrm{}\omega _b`$ to ensure the accuracy. Throughout the paper, we also express the lengths and energies in terms of the characteristic oscillator length $`a_{ho}^b=(\mathrm{}/m_b\omega _b)^{1/2}`$ and characteristic trap energy $`\mathrm{}\omega _b`$, respectively.

In Fig. 1, we present our results for the density profiles of the condensate, of the noncondensate, and of the Fermi gas at two temperatures. The cases with the BF interaction and without the BF interaction are shown by the dash-dotted lines and full lines, respectively. We have also considered a fictitious case of a positive BF interaction: $`a_{bf}=+410a_0`$ (dashed lines). The choice of the first temperature, $`T=80`$ nK, corresponds to the situation in which the condensate and noncondensate have an approximately equal number of atoms, while the other temperature $`T=110`$ nK is chosen to be close to the critical temperature for a pure interacting Bose gas with the same number of bosons, $`T_c112`$ nK. As clearly emerges from the figure, the density profiles of the condensate and of the Fermi gas are strongly affected by the BF interaction at both temperatures. In particular, the densities around the center are significantly enhanced in the case of the BF attraction. The density profile of the noncondensate (shown in the insets), on the other hand, is less influenced by the BF interaction due to its broad distribution and the strong repulsion from the condensate.

In Fig. 2, we show our predictions for the temperature dependence of the condensate fraction $`N_c(T)/N_b`$. The essential feature of the figure is the importance of the attractive BF interaction that results in a sizable quenching of the thermal depletion compared to the prediction for a pure interacting Bose gas. Contrarily, the effects of the repulsive BF interaction are more subtle and are always very small. The sizable enhancement of the condensate fraction predicted by our calculation follows from the fact that in the presence of the BF attraction the condensate effectively experiences a more tightly confining potential. As a consequence, if we neglect the corrections due to the interaction between bosons and the finite size effect, the critical temperature $`T_c^0`$ $`=0.94\mathrm{}\omega _{eff}N_b^{1/3}/k_B`$ is effectively increased and the condensate fraction is, therefore, enhanced according to the ideal gas result $`N_c/N_b=1(T/T_c^0)^3`$.

Closely related to the condensate fraction, another important parameter characterizing the effect of the BF interaction is the shift of the critical temperature from the pure interacting Bose gas case. In Fig. 3, we report the HFB-Popov results for the relative shift of the critical temperature $`\delta T_c/T_c`$ as a function of $`a_{bf}`$ in solid circles. Here $`T_c`$ is determined as the maximum of the function $`d^2N_c/dT^2`$ bergeman . The semiclassical predictions for $`\delta T_c/T_c`$, calculated as in Ref. albus  in the first order of $`a_{bf}`$, are also shown by the dashed line. The agreement of these two approaches is reasonably good for a weak BF interaction ($`\left|a_{bf}\right|`$ $`100a_0`$). However, as $`\left|a_{bf}\right|`$ increases, our HFB-Popov results diverge from the semiclassical predictions. In particular, for the realistic BF $`s`$-wave scattering length for $`{}_{}{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}^{40}`$K mixtures, $`a_{bf}=410a_0`$, the deviation becomes remarkable.

We now turn to consider the experimental relevance of our results. In current experiments, the realistic number of $`{}_{}{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}`$ and 40K atoms in mixtures is about ten times larger than what we assumed here inguscio . For such large number of atoms, our calculation is very time consuming and we then resort to the semiclassical version of the HFB-Popov theory by setting $`E_c^b`$ to an energy of a few $`\mathrm{}\omega _b`$ and applying the TF approximation for the whole Fermi spectra. The accuracy of this semiclassical treatment has been checked by the comparison with the full quantum mechanical calculations for a small mixture. The condensate fraction obtained by these two methods coincides within $`1\%`$ errors.

In Fig. 4, we present the results for $`N_c(T)/N_b`$ of a mixture of $`2\times 10^4`$ $`{}_{}{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}`$ and $`5\times 10^4`$ 40K atoms confined in an isotropic trap with $`\omega _b=2\pi \times 91.7`$ Hz. This choice corresponds to the typical experimental situations at LENS note2 . Although the trap becomes more shallow, the enhancement of the condensate fraction shown in Fig. 4 is quantitatively similar to the one of Fig. 2, due to the much larger values of $`N_b`$ and $`N_f`$ contained in the trap. Finally, in this case we also roughly estimate the relative shift of the critical temperature due to the BF attraction, $`(\delta T_c/T_c)_{bf}+4\%`$, which is comparable to the shift due to the boson-boson interaction, $`(\delta T_c/T_c)_{bb}1.33(a_{bb}/a_{ho}^b)N_b^{1/6}=3.2\%`$, and the finite size correction, $`(\delta T_c/T_c)_{fs}0.73N_b^{1/3}=2.7\%`$ giorgini .

In conclusion, we have generalized the HFB-Popov theory to binary BF mixtures and have presented a detailed study of the thermodynamic properties of mixtures at finite temperature, including the density profiles, the condensate fraction, as well as the critical temperature of BEC. These quantities are found to depend on the BF interaction in a nonlinear way. Moreover, under conditions appropriate to the $`{}_{}{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}^{40}`$K mixture in the LENS experiments, the condensate fraction and the critical temperature of BEC are significantly enhanced with respect to the prediction for a pure interacting Bose gas. This enhancement might be observable in current experiments.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are very grateful to Dr. M. Modugno and Dr. G. Modugno for simulating discussions and for a careful reading of the manuscript. One of us (H.H.) would like to thank the hospitality of LENS while part of this work was performed. X.-J.L was supported by the K.C.Wong Education Foundation, the Chinese Research Fund, the NSF-China under Grant No. 10205022, and the ”ICTP Programme for Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL), Trieste, Italy”.


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# CL 1358+62: Characterizing the Physical Properties of Cluster Galaxies at 𝑧=0.33

## 1 Introduction

How galaxies evolve as a function of their environment remains a fundamental question in astronomy. In particular, the environment of rich clusters provides a unique laboratory for studying how the physical properties of galaxies are related to varying local density, interactions with other galaxies, and exposure to a hot intracluster medium. One deeply ingrained and useful approach to studying galaxy evolution is characterizing morphological properties by visually typing galaxies using the Hubble system (Hubble 1926). As we move into the era of galaxy surveys with thousands, if not millions, of objects, however, there is a need for a quantitative, uniform, and reproducible method of cataloging these visual properties.

A promising solution to this challenge is to measure physical properties, $`e.g.`$ bulge and disk scale lengths, bulge-to-total ratios, disk inclination, bulge ellipticity, etc., directly from 2D surface brightness distributions. Here, parametric models are convolved with the point spread function and then compared to the galaxy’s image to determine the best fit model (Schade et al. 1995; de Jong 1996; Marleau & Simard 1998; Simard et al. 1999; Tran et al. 2001; Trujillo et al. 2001; Simard et al. 2002; La Barbera et al. 2002; MacArthur et al. 2003). Not only are 2D fits a natural way to weight the information contained in each pixel, they are crucial for detecting the presence of bars, HII regions, tidal tails, arms, shells, etc., $`i.e`$ structures not easily identified in traditional 1D profiles. By keeping the 2D information, structural parameters for a large sample of galaxies can be derived and then compared to the galaxies’ spectral properties and environmental conditions. A lingering concern, however, is assessing how meaningful the structural parameters are. In the well-accepted framework of Hubble classifications, how can bulge-to-total ratios, scale lengths, galaxy asymmetry, etc. aid our understanding of galaxy evolution?

In Hubble’s original system (Hubble 1926), one of the main qualitative classification criteria is bulge-to-disk ratio. As bulge+disk models measure a basic extension of this parameter (bulge-to-total fraction; $`B/T`$), it should be possible to correlate bulge fraction with Hubble type. The bulge fraction varies, however, depending on the type of bulge profile used, $`i.e.`$ classical de Vaucouleurs $`r^{1/4}`$ law (de Vaucouleurs 1948), the generalization by Sérsic to $`r^{1/n}`$ (Sersic 1968), or pure exponential (de Jong 1996). A fundamental question is which profile correlates best to Hubble classifications for galaxies spanning the range of morphological types?

Once the appropriate profile is determined, the measured structural parameters provide a wealth of information with which to study galaxies. In addition to confirming the morphology-density relation in intermediate redshift clusters (Dressler et al. 1997), recent studies find a population of late-type/disk-dominated members that lack strong emission (Poggianti et al. 1999; Balogh et al. 2002), i.e. their star formation has been quenched. This result suggests that spectral and morphological evolution in the cluster environment may be decoupled and raises the question of how strongly ongoing star formation is correlated with physical characteristics. By comparing spectral features to quantitative measures of galaxy morphology from our extensive sample of CL 1358+62 ($`z=0.3283`$; Fisher et al. 1998, hereafter F98), we can address this issue as well as test for correlations between morphology and cluster substructure ($`e.g.`$ Hutchings et al. 2002).

A direct test of the link between star formation and morphology is to compare \[OII\] emission to residuals from the galaxy fits. Couch et al. (2001) find that spiral structure still can be observed in $`z0.3`$ cluster galaxies long after star formation has ceased, $`i.e.`$ signatures of past events may be long-lived. If 1) morphological disturbances associated with star formation continue to exist long after the star forming episode ends, and 2) late-types are “strangled” when they enter the cluster environment (Balogh et al. 1998, $`R>2`$$`h^1`$ Mpc), then we should observe a population of predominantly late-type galaxies in CL 1358+62 with high asymmetry but no detectable \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ emission. By comparing \[OII\]$`\lambda `$3727 to bulge-to-total ratio and galaxy asymmetry, we can isolate these galaxies.

Another interesting question that can be addressed using 2D fits is whether low luminosity ellipticals and S0’s are essentially the same type of galaxy. It has been argued that $`M_B22`$ ellipticals and S0’s have different formation/merger histories than the most luminous early-types. Jorgensen & Franx (1994) suggest that these fainter ellipticals and S0’s actually form a common parent galaxy population, and that viewing angle plays a strong part in how these galaxies are typed (Rix & White 1990; Kormendy & Bender 1996, see also). Their similarity in colors support this argument (Sandage & Visvanathan 1978). As the isophotal shapes of early-type galaxies hold clues to their formation history (Nieto & Bender 1989; Naab et al. 1999), determining if bulge-dominated systems must be separated into two classes, $`i.e.`$ “boxy” bright ellipticals and “disky” fainter ones (Kormendy & Bender 1996), is integral to understanding galaxy evolution across the range of luminosity ($``$mass). To address this question, we compare the bulge fractions, disk inclinations, bulge ellipticities, and velocity dispersions of visually classified ellipticals and S0’s in CL 1358+62 (Fabricant et al. 2000, hereafter FFvD00).

In this paper, we characterize the physical properties of 173 confirmed members in CL 1358+62 (F98) using GIM2D (Marleau & Simard 1998; Simard et al. 1999; Tran et al. 2001; Simard et al. 2002), an automated program that fits a PSF-convolved 2D surface brightness model to an image of each galaxy and searches $`\chi ^2`$ space for the best fit. The images are from $`8^{}\times 8^{}`$ $`HST`$ WFPC2 mosaics taken in the F606W and F814W filters ($``$ rest-frame $`B`$ and $`V`$). The members span the range of Hubble type ($`5T8`$) and have apparent F814W magnitudes between $`17.4`$ (BCG) and $`23.2`$ ($`20.8MB_z5\mathrm{log}h15.9`$). By fitting three different bulge+disk profiles to the sample, we determine the profile that is correlated best with the published visual classifications. We test for correlations between structural parameters, current star formation as defined by \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ emission, internal velocity dispersions, and local cluster structure. We also investigate the relationship between elliptical and S0 galaxies, and examine the properties of E+A galaxies.

To determine how robust our results are, we simulate thousands of artificial de Vaucouleurs bulge+exponential disk galaxies and fit surface brightness profiles to them in the same manner as with the cluster sample; note we assume galaxies can be well-described by a two component profile. The artificial galaxy catalog covers the same range in structural parameter space as the cluster members, and from these simulations we quantify systematic and random errors associated with bulge fraction, half-light radius, bulge & disk scale lengths, disk inclination, and bulge ellipticity. We also test our ability to measure Sérsic and exponential bulge components by fitting artificial galaxies with $`r^{1/n}`$ ($`0.2n6`$) bulge+exponential disk and double exponential profiles.

The sections of this paper are organized as follows: The data and fitting technique are described in §2. In §3, we present the models and structural parameters determined by our surface brightness fitting program for the cluster sample. Here we employ “sanity checks” by comparing the measured bulge fraction to visual morphologies, local cluster density, and total galaxy colors. Correlations between bulge fraction, total residual, galaxy asymmetry, and current star formation also are examined in this section. We discuss the physical properties of elliptical, S0, and E+A galaxies in §4. In §5, we test the robustness of our measurements by utilizing results from thousands of artificial galaxies fits. Our conclusions are summarized in §6. Here we use $`H_0=100h`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$.

## 2 Data and Analysis

### 2.1 Imaging

We use $`HST`$ WFPC2 imaging of CL 1358+62 that is part of an extensive project to study the evolution of intermediate redshift cluster galaxies (van Dokkum et al. 1998a, b; Tran et al. 1999; van Dokkum et al. 1999, 2000; Kelson et al. 2000a, b, c, 2001; van Dokkum & Franx 2001). The $`8^{}\times 8^{}`$ mosiac ($`R1.1`$$`h^1`$ Mpc) is centered on the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and is comprised of 12 separate pointings in the F606W and F814W filters. Three exposures, each 1200 seconds, were taken in each filter for each pointing. The two chosen filters, F606W and F814W, are similar to rest-frame $`B`$ and $`V`$ for CL 1358+62. The images were reduced at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) with the usual pipeline procedure. Details of the complex sky subtraction and cosmic ray removal are explained fully in van Dokkum et al. (1998b, hereafter vD98). Following vD98, we transform from observed F606W and F814W magnitudes to rest-frame $`B`$ and $`V`$ using

$$B_z=F814W+1.021(F606WF814W)+0.524$$
(1)
$$V_z=F814W+0.204(F606WF814W)+0.652$$
(2)
with a distance modulus of $`40.03`$; we also correct for passive evolution (van Dokkum et al. 1998a).

### 2.2 Spectroscopy

The large spectroscopic sample obtained for the CL 1358+62 field was taken at the Multiple Mirror Telescope and the William Herschel Telescope. A detailed description of the reduction and analysis of the spectroscopic sample are described in Fabricant et al. (1991) and F98.

Twenty slit-masks were designed to cover a $`10^{}\times 11^{}`$ field; targets were chosen based on their $`R`$ magnitude from imaging taken at the Whipple Observatory 1.2m telescope. The spectral resolution was $`13`$Å at the WHT and $`20`$Å at the MMT. Of the 387 redshifts measured, 232 are cluster members. Defining galaxies with $`0.31461<z<0.34201`$ as cluster members, CL 1358+62’s mean redshift and velocity dispersion are $`0.3283\pm 0.0003`$ and $`1027_{45}^{+51}`$ km s-1 respectively (F98).

From the redshift catalog, 192 cluster members fall on the $`8^{}\times 8^{}`$ $`HST`$ WFPC2 mosaic. The completeness within the $`HST`$ mosaic is $`>90\%`$ to $`R=21`$ ($`m_{814}20.2`$), decreasing to $`30\%`$ at $`R=22`$. The incompleteness is not due to an inability to measure redshifts at these magnitudes but by the limited number of galaxies observed. The redshift success rate is not strongly color dependent for $`R<23.5`$ (F98).

Of the 192 galaxies that are on the $`HST`$ mosaic, we fit galaxy models only to 173 as 19 fall too close to a chip edge for proper analysis of the surface brightness distribution. The 173 galaxies range in absolute $`B_z`$ magnitude from $`20.8`$+5log$`h`$ mags (H375; BCG) to $`15.9`$+5log$`h`$ mags (I1829). We include the published \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ Å line strength measurements (F98) and internal velocity dispersions for a subset (Kelson et al. 2000b) in our analysis.

### 2.3 Structural Measurements

#### 2.3.1 The Surface Brightness Models

We use the GIM2D package (Marleau & Simard 1998; Simard et al. 1999; Tran et al. 2001; Simard et al. 2002) to find the best-fit PSF-convolved, 2D bulge+disk models to the surface brightness profiles of the cluster members. The program has a maximum of 12 fitting parameters: the flux ($`F_{total}`$) in the model integrated to $`r=\mathrm{}`$; the bulge/total luminosity $`B/TF_{bulge}/F_{total}`$; the semi-major axis effective radius of the bulge $`r_e`$; the bulge ellipticity $`e1b/a`$ where $`a`$ and $`b`$ are the bulge semi-major and semi-minor axes respectively; the bulge position angle $`\varphi _b`$; the semi-major axis exponential disk scale length $`r_d`$; the inclination of the disk $`i`$ ($`i0`$ for face-on); the disk position angle $`\varphi _d`$; the subpixel $`dx`$ and $`dy`$ offsets of the galaxy’s center; the residual background level $`db`$; and the Sérsic index $`n`$ of the bulge. Both $`\varphi _b`$ and $`\varphi _d`$ are measured clockwise from the positive $`y`$-axis of the image. The best-fit parameters and their confidence intervals are determined using the Metropolis algorithm (Metropolis et al. 1953; Saha & Williams 1994) which uses the $`\chi _\nu ^2`$ test to determine the region of maximum likelihood in the multi-parameter space.

The bulge profile is defined as

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }(r)=\mathrm{\Sigma }_eexp\left\{k[(r/r_e)^{1/n}1]\right\}$$
(3)
where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(r)`$ is the surface brightness at $`r`$ along the semi-major axis, and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_e`$ is the effective surface brightness. This bulge profile is also known as the Sérsic profile (Sersic 1968). The parameter $`k`$ is equal to $`(1.9992n0.3271)`$, a value that defines $`r_e`$ to be the projected radius enclosing half of the light in the bulge component (Capaccioli 1989). The classical de Vaucouleurs profile is a special case of Equation 3 with $`n=4`$.

The disk profile is defined as

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }(r)=\mathrm{\Sigma }_0exp(r/r_d)$$
(4)
where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_0`$ is the (face-on) central surface brightness. We note (as do Simard et al. 1999, 2002) that the bulge/disk nomenclature adopted here to describe our surface brightness models may not reflect the internal kinematics of its components. A “bulge” may not be a centralized, dynamically hot spheroid but could be a central starburst. Similarly, a “disk” may not necessarily be a cold, co-rotating population. For example, dynamically “hot” systems such as faint dwarf ellipticals are best fit by exponential disks (Binggeli & Cameron 1991; Ryden et al. 1999).

Before a 2D model to the surface brightness of a given galaxy can be fitted, the galaxy’s isophotal area and an appropriate point spread function (PSF) must be determined. To define the isophotal area, we use the galaxy photometry package SExtractor V2.0 (Bertin & Arnouts 1996) with a detection threshold of $`\mu _{814}=24.4`$ mags/$`\mathrm{}^{\prime \prime }`$ (equivalent to $`1\sigma `$ of the sky noise) and a minimum deblending contrast parameter of 0.01. As we fit galaxies in two filters (F606W and F814W), we use the isophotal area defined in the (redder) F814W image. To generate a PSF for each galaxy in each filter, we use TinyTim V4.4 (Krist 1993). As the PSF changes across each WF chip, a PSF model is generated every 50 pixels and the nearest one to the galaxy is chosen for the GIM2D analysis. Both the PSF and galaxy models are subsampled by a factor of five as WF image are undersampled and the pixelization can affect the shape of small galaxies such as those in our cluster sample. The centering of the galaxy is also improved by subsampling the data; this point can be critical for determination of the galaxy residuals (Conselice et al. 2000).

By fitting models to the surface brightness distribution of these galaxies, we measure the structural properties $`n`$, $`B/T`$, $`r_e`$, $`r_d`$, $`\varphi _b`$, $`\varphi _d`$, $`i`$, and the half-light radius $`r_{1/2}`$. The semi-major axis half-light radius is computed by integrating the sum of Equations 3 and 4 to $`r=\mathrm{}`$; note that as the models include bulge ellipticity and disk inclination, circular symmetry is not assumed. The galaxy’s $`(x,y)`$ center is also determined from the best fit model.

The asymmetric image residual flux is quantified by the asymmetry index $`R_A`$ (Schade et al. 1995), defined as

$`R_A`$ $`=`$ $`(R_A)_{raw}(R_A)_{bkg}`$ (5)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}|R_{ij}R_{ij}^{180}|}{{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}I_{ij}}}{\displaystyle \frac{{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}|B_{ij}B_{ij}^{180}|}{{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}I_{ij}}}`$
where $`R_{ij}`$ is the flux at $`(i,j)`$ in the residual image, $`R_{ij}^{180}`$ is the flux in the residual image rotated by $`180^{}`$, and $`I_{ij}`$ is the flux in the original image. Following Marleau & Simard (1998), $`R_A`$ is measured within $`r=2`$$`r_{1/2}`$. The second term $`(R_A)_{bkg}`$ in Equation 5 is a statistical correction for background noise fluctuations. Since $`(R_A)_{raw}`$ involves taking absolute values of pixel fluxes, it will yield a positive signal even in the sole presence of noise. The background correction, $`(R_A)_{bkg}`$, is computed over pixels flagged as background pixels by SExtractor. The $`B_{ij}`$’s are background pixel values in the residual image, and the $`B_{ij}^{180}`$’s are background pixel values in the residual image rotated by $`180^{}`$. The background correction is computed over a background pixel area equal to the pixel area over which $`(R_A)_{raw}`$ is computed. Given the statistical nature of $`(R_A)_{bkg}`$, there will be cases when a galaxy is faint enough compared to its background noise that $`R_A`$ may take on small negative values in exactly the way as the difference of two values of $`(R_A)_{bkg}`$ computed from different regions of the sky may be negative.

In addition to $`R_A`$, we measure the total residual fraction of light $`R_T`$ by taking the pixels assigned to the galaxy by SExtractor and creating a mask that is applied to the original and model images (Tran et al. 2001). For a positive-definite residual fraction, the model is subtracted from the original, and the absolute value of the difference at each pixel over the isophotal area is summed. To account for the sky, the same number of sky pixels as galaxy pixels are summed in the same manner and subtracted from the total galaxy residual. We use the total residual fraction of light as a gauge of the model’s goodness of fit but note that, for fainter galaxies, the error in $`R_T`$ is dominated by the error in the sky flux.

## 3 Physical Properties

### 3.1 What Type of Profile?

A fundamental question when using parametric surface brightness models to measure physical properties is what type of profile should be used. Depending on the profile, certain structural parameters ($`e.g.`$ $`B/T`$, scale lengths, and bulge/disk colors) can change drastically in value (see Fig. 1). Recent work (de Jong 1996; Courteau et al. 1996; Andredakis 1998) combine two $`n=1`$ exponential components to fit the surface brightness profile of late-type spirals while others (Caon et al. 1993; La Barbera et al. 2002) use a Sérsic profile to fit early-type galaxies. Another popular profile is the classical de Vaucouleurs with exponential disk (Schade et al. 1995; Marleau & Simard 1998; Simard et al. 1999; Im et al. 2001; Tran et al. 2001). If conclusions are to be drawn from these quantitative studies of galaxy morphology, the most basic first step is to be consistent in the type of profile used.

In this paper, we test three different profiles by fitting them to the cluster galaxies and comparing the measured structural parameters to published Hubble types from FFvD00; as we justify in §5, we use only the 155 members in our sample brighter than $`m_{814}=21`$ ($`MB_z17.35`$+5log$`h`$). The three profiles are: (1) de Vaucouleurs bulge with exponential disk; (2) Sérsic bulge ($`0.2n6`$) with exponential disk; and (3) double exponential. Figure 1 shows $`B/T`$ versus visual morphological type for the three profiles; here, visual types are represented as E (-5), S0 (-2), Sa (1), Sb (3), Sc (5), Sd (7), Sm (9), and Im (10); galaxies with high degree of asymmetry ($`R_A0.05`$, see §3.3.1) are noted with dots.

Of the three profiles, both the de Vaucouleurs bulge+exponential disk and Sérsic bulge+exponential disk correspond well to the visual types. The correlation between measured $`B/T`$ and visual type for both profiles is 99% ($`>2\sigma `$) significant with the Spearman rank test (Press et al. 1992). The trend between de Vaucouleurs bulge+exponential disk and type is not surprising because: 1) bright ellipticals and the bulges of early-type spirals are well-fit by a de Vaucouleurs profile (Andredakis et al. 1995; Andredakis 1998); and 2) cluster galaxies tend to be bulge-dominated systems. We note, however, that there is large scatter in the correlation and that $`B/T`$ cannot reliably distinguish early-type spirals from ellipticals and S0’s.

While the correlation between visual type and $`B/T`$ for the Sérsic bulge+exponential disk fits is strong (see Fig. 1), we do not recover the observed correlation between bulge power $`n`$ and Hubble type found locally (Caon et al. 1993; Graham & Prieto 1999, see Fig. 2). This combined with results from the simulations discussed in §6 suggest that a Sérsic bulge+exponential disk is not an appropriate model for this sample. Our sample does not contain enough spirals to test for the trend between $`n`$ and early versus late-type spirals found by Graham (2001).

There is no visible correlation between $`B/T`$ and type for the double exponential profile. The mismatch between profile and galaxy type results in an alarming number of cluster galaxies (75%) being classified as disk-dominated sytems ($`B/T<0.4`$). The lack of correlation is not surprising, however, given the inherent ambiguity between “bulge” and “disk” when describing the two components with the same functional form. Also, this profile is appropriate mainly for late-type spirals (de Jong 1996; Courteau et al. 1996). These points convince us that the double exponential profile is a poor choice for measuring structural parameters across the range of galaxy types.

Based on these tests, we proceed to use the de Vaucouleurs bulge with exponential disk profile as our canonical fitting model for the sake of continuity across the full range of morphological types.

### 3.2 2D Surface Brightness Models: Sanity Checks

Before drawing any conclusions from the surface brightness models, we employ “sanity checks” to ensure our method corresponds to observed, well-established cluster galaxy properties. These tests are: 1) check for consistency of $`B/T`$ measurement between filters; 2) establish a correlation between measured $`B/T`$ and visual morphological type; 3) determine if a morphology-radius ($``$ density) relation using $`B/T`$ exists; and 4) check that typing cluster members by $`B/T`$ results in separation of galaxy types in the color-magnitude diagram.

#### 3.2.1 Galaxy Models: de Vaucouleurs Bulge with Exponential Disk

We fit a de Vaucouleurs bulge with exponential disk model to the 173 cluster members in our sample. The galaxies are fit in each filter separately to test the robustness of the structural parameter measurements. Figure 3 shows 168 of the 173 galaxies in our cluster sample. Each set of three thumbnails shows the galaxy, its best-fit de Vaucouleurs with exponential disk model, and its residual image created by subtracting the model from the original. Included in the images are reference numbers (upper left), apparent F814W magnitudes (bottom left), bulge/total luminosity ($`B/T`$; bottom middle), and the asymmetry parameter and total fraction of residual light ($`R_A,R_T`$; bottom right). The pixel area in each thumbnail is 15 times the galaxy’s isophotal area as defined by SExtractor; this is usually $`1015^{\prime \prime }`$ on a side. The cluster members range in absolute $`B_z`$ magnitude from $`20.8`$+5log$`h`$ (BCG; H375) to $`15.9`$+5log$`h`$ (H1829). Table 1 lists these parameters as well as $`B_z`$, $`(BV)_z`$, Hubble type, half-light radius, and bulge/disk scale lengths. In the following discussion, we only include the 155 members with $`m_{814}21`$ as, based on results from extensive simulations in §5, our measured structural parameters are not significantly biased for these.

For simplicity, we focus on structural parameters measured from the individual F814W ($``$rest-frame $`V`$) images as opposed to including values from the F606W ($``$ rest-frame $`B`$) images. Comparing structural parameters measured in the two filters finds little difference in their general distributions. We emphasize that while structural parameter values for individual galaxies may vary between the two filters, these differences are 1) expected and understandable and 2) do not impact the global conclusions drawn from our analysis.

#### 3.2.2 $`B/T`$ vs. Visual Morphology

In Fig. 4, we show the bulge distributions measured in F814W. Not surprisingly, the majority of cluster members ($`70`$%) are bulge-dominated ($`B/T0.4`$) systems. This result does not depend strongly on filter as, using the Kolmolgorov-Smirnov test (Press et al. 1992), we find the F814W and F606W distributions to be indistinguishable.

With the de Vaucouleurs bulge+exponential disk profile, we find a strong trend (99% confidence) between $`B/T`$ and visual morphological type (Fig. 1, top panel) with the Spearman rank test (Press et al. 1992), albeit with large scatter. We also see in Fig. 1 that of the high asymmetry, visually typed galaxies, all have $`B/T<0.7`$; this is expected because disks are more likely to harbor asymmetric features such as HII regions. The correlations between $`B/T`$, asymmetry, and visual type are highly encouraging but we note that, in this sample, it is difficult to separate early-type spirals from ellipticals and S0’s using $`B/T`$ alone.

#### 3.2.3 $`B/T`$ (Morphology) vs. Local Density

F98 and vD98 have shown that galaxy spectral type and visual morphological type vary as a function of local density in CL 1358+62. In Fig. 5, we show that fitting a de Vaucouleurs bulge with exponential disk profile to the same sample of galaxies also recovers the same results, as expected since we have demonstrated the strong correlation between $`B/T`$ and visual type. Splitting the sample into bulge and disk-dominated systems, Fig. 5 shows the increase in the fraction of disk-dominated systems with decreasing local galaxy density. Here, the local galaxy density is defined as $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=11/\pi r_{10}^2`$, and $`r_{10}`$ is the distance to the farthest of the ten nearest confirmed members to the object (Dressler 1980).

An interesting question is whether the distribution of bulge-dominated galaxies is related to cluster substructure. Using the Dressler-Shectman test (Dressler & Shectman 1988), F98 found the degree of substructure to be significant with 96% confidence ($`>2\sigma `$) where the significance was calibrated with $`10^3`$ Monte Carlo realizations. Fig. 6 shows the spatial distribution of $`m_{814}21`$ mags members as a function of $`B/T`$ and $`\delta `$, the substructure statistic. As $`\delta `$ quantifies how much the local mean redshift and velocity dispersion deviate from the cluster’s global values, groups of large circles indicate a significant degree of substructure. Moving from bulge to disk-dominated systems, we find that bulge-dominated systems are clustered more strongly than disk-dominated ones. The spatial distribution of the most bulge-dominated galaxies ($`B/T0.75`$) is different from that of the most disk-dominated ($`B/T<0.25`$) ones with 97% confidence ($`>2\sigma `$) using the two dimensional K-S test. The most significant subclump is a foreground group composed mainly of early-types ($`B/T0.4`$), including the BCG.

As a further refinement, we separate the cluster sample into $`B/T0.5`$ and $`B/T<0.5`$ members and apply the Dressler-Schectman test; again, the substructure signficance is calibrated with $`10^3`$ Monte Carlo realizations. The bulge-dominated galaxies (98) show substructure with 98% confidence ($`>2\sigma `$) while the disk-dominated galaxies (75) lack significant substructure. In addition, the cluster velocity dispersion determined from bulge-dominated systems is lower than that from disk-dominated ones: $`950\pm 70`$ km s-1 compared to $`1220\pm 100`$ km s-1 .

#### 3.2.4 Color-Magnitude Relation

Following vD98, we examine how galaxy colors change as a function of magnitude and galaxy type (as defined by bulge fraction $`B/T`$). In Fig. 7, we show the color magnitude diagram in four $`B/T`$ bins; we use $`B_z`$ magnitudes, $`(BV)`$ colors, CM relation (determined from E-S0 members) from vD98. As $`B/T`$ decreases, the scatter and average deviation from the CM relation increases. Also, the most disk-dominated systems ($`B/T<0.25`$) are significantly bluer and have the largest scatter about the CM relation. These results are consistent with the trends vD98 found using Hubble classifications for the same galaxies.

In Fig. 7, we see there exist cluster members with significant disk components ($`B/T<0.5`$) that are also red. It is possible these disk systems have had their star formation “strangled” Balogh et al. (1998) and/or they have managed to avoid major galaxy interactions that would have disrupted their disks, $`e.g.`$ mergers. An extensive analysis of the bulge/disk colors of these galaxies will be discussed in a future paper.

### 3.3 Image Residuals of Cluster Members

#### 3.3.1 High Asymmetry Galaxies

Following Tran et al. (2001) and Schade et al. (1995), we define galaxies with $`R_A0.05`$ as having a high degree of asymmetry. In the cluster sample of galaxies with $`m_{814}21`$, $`10`$% have $`R_A0.05`$, and all of these high asymmetry galaxies have $`B/T<0.7`$. Most asymmetries in this population are due to star-forming regions in disk-dominated systems ($`e.g.`$ H178, H200, H234, and H396; see Fig. 8).

CL 1358+62’s fraction of high asymmetry galaxies is more similar to that observed in groups than in the field. Tran et al. (2001) found that about 11% of galaxies nearby, X-ray luminous groups have high asymmetry222Note, however, that our $`HST`$ data are $`3\times `$ higher in physical resolution than the ground-based sample (0.44$`h^1`$ kpc versus 1.31$`h^1`$ kpc)., with the fraction of bulge-dominated galaxies in groups at $`5060\%`$. In comparison, Schade et al. (1995) found that 10/32 (30%) $`HST`$ observed field galaxies within the redshift range $`0.5<z<1.2`$ have high galaxy asymmetry. This is as expected, however, as the majority of field galaxies are disk-dominated, and disks are more sensitive to morphological disturbances.

#### 3.3.2 High Total Residual Galaxies

After examining the residual images (Fig. 3), we define galaxies with $`R_T0.1`$ as having high total residual. Approximately 20% of the members have high total residuals with features that are over or under-subtracted by the model, $`e.g.`$ bars (H525, see Fig. 8) or star-forming regions (H178, see Fig. 8). As there are 15 galaxies common to both populations, however, this is not surprising.

We find that disk-dominated galaxies tend to be more disturbed than bulge-dominated ones: a third of these systems show high asymmetry and half have a high total residual. Comparatively, the early-type galaxies have smoother galaxy profiles: only $`5`$% show high galaxy asymmetry and $`10`$% have a high total residual. Normalizing the residuals by the average surface brightness instead of the total flux finds the same result. The difference in the high residual fraction of disk-dominated members compared to bulge-dominated ones supports findings that the mechanism(s) responsible for morphologically disrupting cluster members are: (1) more effective at disturbing disk-dominated galaxies than bulge-dominated ones and/or (2) the early-type galaxies are older and have been in the cluster environment longer, so any disruptions in these galaxies occurred long ago and have damped out via phase mixing.

### 3.4 Correlations between Structural Parameters and \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ Emission

To determine how morphological characteristics are correlated (or not) with ongoing star formation, we compare $`B/T`$, $`R_A`$, and $`R_T`$ to \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ measurements from F98. We assume \[OII\] emission is correlated with star formation and not active galactic nuclei (AGN) as we do not have the necessary data ($`e.g.`$ H$`\alpha `$ or X-ray) to distinguish between the two. Again, we discuss only the 155 galaxies in the cluster sample with $`m_{814}21`$. In the following discussion, note that neither $`B/T`$ nor $`R_A`$ are correlated with luminosity, as determined with the Spearman rank test.

#### 3.4.1 Current Star Formation vs. $`B/T`$

Figure 9 shows the distribution of the galaxies’ bulge fractions versus their \[OII\] equivalent widths; negative \[OII\] EW values correspond to emission. Of the 26/155 galaxies with significant \[OII\] emission (\[OII\] EW$`<5`$Å), $`60`$% are disk-dominated galaxies ($`B/T<0.4`$). Even more compelling, 4 of the 7 galaxies with the highest star formation rates (\[OII\]$`20`$Å) have $`B/T=0`$, $`i.e.`$, completely disk-dominated systems.

Current star formation in cluster galaxies, as traced by \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ emission, is not confined to only disk-dominated systems (see bottom panel, Fig. 9). Interestingly, $`40`$% of galaxies with significant \[OII\] emission are bulge-dominated ($`B/T0.4`$). These galaxies span the range of luminosity ($``$ mass), having $`17.3MB_z5\mathrm{log}h20.8`$, and include the BCG. We discuss this population in more detail in §4.2.

Comparison of the \[OII\] emission line strength to bulge fraction finds it to be correlated strongly with $`B/T`$. Table 2 shows the average \[OII\] EW in four $`B/T`$ bins. The average \[OII\] emission is dramatically higher for galaxies with $`B/T<0.25`$, dropping to zero for $`B/T0.85`$ galaxies. Like Balogh et al. (1998), we find that the most bulge-dominated members ($`B/T0.8`$) have \[OII\] EQW consistent with zero.

#### 3.4.2 Current Star Formation vs. Galaxy Residuals

The correlation between high galaxy asymmetry and strong \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ emission for bulge and disk-dominated galaxies is shown in Fig. 10. Approximately 70% of the high asymmetry galaxies have significant \[OII\] emission. For the disk-dominated members, there is a strong trend (99% confidence) of increasing \[OII\] emission with increasing $`R_A`$; most of these galaxies have high asymmetry and/or high total residuals and are blue. We find that current star formation in the disk-dominated population is highly correlated with measureable morphological disturbances.

Although 11 of the bulge-dominated galaxies do have strong \[OII\] emission, only three of these galaxies have $`R_A0.05`$ and/or $`R_T0.1`$. Assuming the \[OII\] emission is due to star formation, active star formation tends to be distributed in a smooth and uniform manner when it occurs in $`B/T0.4`$ members. Alternatively, these members may harbor active galactic nuclei (Martini et al. 2002); we discuss this possibility in greater detail in §4.2. Using the high total residual population instead of the high asymmetry one, we find essentially the same results.

## 4 Towards Understanding Different Galaxy Populations

### 4.1 E’s vs. S0’s: A Matter of Viewing Angle?

Jorgensen & Franx (1994) suggest that $`M_B>22`$ ellipticals and S0’s form the same galaxy class, such that ellipticals tend to be face-on members of this class while S0’s are more edge-on members. Our measurements of bulge ellipticity and disk inclination enable us to test this hypothesis. If the ellipticity and inclination distributions of these two populations are completely different but they span the same range in other physical properties, this would be strong evidence for these ellipticals being face-on S0’s. However, as the most luminous E/S0 galaxies ($`e.g.`$ BCGs) are hypothesized to have different formation histories (Kormendy & Bender 1996; Naab et al. 1999), we restrict our analysis to $`19m_{814}21`$.

Classically, ellipticals can be circular (E0; axis ratio is 1) to cigar-shaped (E6; axis ratio is 0.4). Thus, visually typed ellipticals in CL 1358+62 (FFvD00) should span the range in bulge ellipticity and, for systems with disks, inclination; the same is true for S0 and even Sa galaxies. To test this, we plot in Fig. 11 the bulge ellipticity and disk inclination versus measured $`B/T`$ of E’s and S0’s. We include all visually typed E’s and S0’s in Fig. 11 for completeness but note that ellipticity and inclination measurements are robust only for $`B/T0.4`$ and $`B/T0.6`$ systems respectively.

Applying a K-S test to both the bulge ellipticity and disk inclination distributions of E’s and S0’s confirms they are different, yet their $`B/T`$ distributions (for $`B/T0.4`$) are indistinguishable. Note also the conspicuous lack of round ($`Ell<0.2`$) S0’s, a population that should exist due to projection effects alone. To strengthen our argument, we compare the internal velocity dispersion333From Kelson et al. (2000b) we have $`\sigma _{disp}`$ for four ellipticals and 11 S0’s; for the rest, we use derived velocity dispersions (Tran et al. 2003)., half-light radius, projected cluster radius, \[OII\]$`\lambda `$3727, magnitude, and $`(BV)_z`$ distributions of the E’s and S0’s. Using the K-S test, we find the distributions to be indistinguishable for all these parameters.

The fact that visually typed E’s and S0’s share similar properties with the exception of bulge ellipticity and disk inclination strongly suggests that these ellipticals are likely to be face-on S0’s. In addition, the range in $`B/T`$ for members classified as ellipticals (Fig. 11, top panel) shows that these are not pure $`r^{1/4}`$ galaxies. This supports results from recent observations and modeling (Rix et al. 1999; Burkert & Naab 2001) that a disk component exists in most ellipticals.

### 4.2 AGN’s in Cluster Ellipticals?

We find $`5`$% of the total cluster population are bulge-dominated galaxies ($`B/T0.4`$) with significant \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ emission ($`<5`$Å) that, unlike their disk-dominated counterparts, display little morphological disruption ($`R_A<0.05`$). A possible explanation for these unusual systems is that they are similar to the blue field ellipticals studied by Menanteau et al. (1999, 2001), $`i.e`$ bulge-dominated systems still forming stars in their cores. In this cluster, however, the majority of these systems are as red as the absorption population (see Fig. 10) even though their average \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ emission is significantly higher ($`8.5\pm 3.9`$ Å vs. $`0.70\pm 1.6`$Å). Their bulge components are equally as red, $`i.e.`$ these objects do not have blue cores and it is highly unlikely that their \[OII\] emission is due to a central starburst.

Our sample finds that the undisturbed, high \[OII\] emission, bulge-dominated members are not low mass objects. Comparison of internal velocity dispersions measured for half of this population (6/11) from Kelson et al. (2000b) shows $`\sigma _{disp}`$ ranges from $`128\pm 5`$ km/s to $`230\pm 5`$ with the BCG at $`307\pm 7`$ km/s. While it could be argued that velocity dispersions are measured most easily for massive galaxies, thus introducing a bias exists against low mass ($`\sigma _{disp}`$) objects, the sample published by Kelson et al. (2000b) includes robust velocity dispersions to $`\sigma 60`$km/s.

These points suggest that the \[OII\] emission in these red, bulge-dominated galaxies originates from AGN activity rather than star formation. In Abell 2104, Martini et al. (2002) find a surprisingly high number of X-ray sources associated with red cluster galaxies; their lower limit on the AGN fraction of 5% is remarkably similar to our cluster fraction of low asymmetry, \[OII\] emitting, bulge-dominated members. Unlike the AGN candidates in this cluster, however, the majority of Martini et al. (2002)’s AGN candidates lack significant optical emission. It may be that the number of AGN candidates identified via \[OII\] emission only places a lower limit on the cluster AGN fraction.

### 4.3 E+A Galaxies

Following F98, we select post-starburst (“E+A”) galaxies as having no \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ emission ($`5`$Å) and strong Balmer absorption \[(H$`\beta +`$H$`\delta +`$H$`\gamma )/34`$ Å). The nine spectroscopically confirmed E+A galaxies on the HST mosaics span the range in bulge fraction ($`0<(B/T)0.9`$) but these are not bright galaxies ($`19.6MB_z5\mathrm{log}h17.3`$). Virtually all of them are blue (see Fig. 7, also Bartholomew et al. 2001), and a third of them show significant asymmetry or total residual (see Fig. 10). A detailed analysis of the cluster E+A population is presented in Tran et al. (2003).

## 5 Simulations: Robustness of Surface Brightness Models

To test the robustness of structural parameters determined by fitting de Vaucouleurs bulge+exponential disk surface brightness models, we generate several thousand artificial galaxies and apply the same analysis. Note that we assume throughout this section that galaxies are described exactly by an $`r^{1/n}`$ bulge+exponential disk profile. In the following, we focus on errors associated with incorrect measurements of flux, $`B/T`$, bulge ellipticity, disk inclination, half-light radius, and the scale lengths of the two profile components. We also include short discussions on the reliability of fitting Sérsic and exponential bulges.

### 5.1 Determining de Vaucouleurs Bulges

Artificial de Vaucouleurs bulge+exponential disk galaxies are generated uniformly to cover the same range in flux, bulge/total luminosity, scale lengths ($`r_d`$, $`r_e`$), bulge eccentricity, and disk inclination as the cluster sample in the F814W filter (3600s integration). For simplicity, the bulge and disk position angles are fixed at $`45^{}`$. Once the smooth galaxy image is created, it is convolved with the appropriate TinyTim PSF, Poisson noise is added, and it is imbedded in a $`30^{\prime \prime }\times 30^{\prime \prime }`$ WF2 image section that is free of any detectable objects. At this point, the artificial galaxy catalog is analyzed in exactly the same manner as the observed sample.

By comparing measured to input values of the structural parameters for the artificial galaxies, we can map systematic and random errors due to the galaxy’s position in the multi-dimensional structural space. Systematic error is the median difference between the input and measured value for a parameter, and random error is the $`1\sigma `$ width of the distribution associated with the median difference. Statistics drawn from the simulations are robust across the range of $`m_{814}`$ and $`(B/T)_{814}`$ as the artificial catalog is well-sampled in each of these bins.

#### 5.1.1 Total Magnitude

The top panel of Fig. 12 shows the median fractional difference between input and measured magnitude (F814) over the range of $`B/T`$ for the artificial catalog. For the brightest galaxies, the measured flux does not deviate significantly from the input value. At $`m_{814}>22`$ mags, however, we systematically underestimate the input flux by $`0.3`$ mags and maximum random errors increase to $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{814}>0.5`$ across the range of $`B/T`$. With the exception of three galaxies (of 173), all of the CL 1358+62 sample are brighter than $`m_{814}=22`$ mags.

The bottom panel of Fig. 12 emphasizes how faint galaxies, and in particular low surface brightness ones, are adversely affected by decreasing signal-to-noise ratios. In each subpanel, we underestimate the total flux as measured $`r_{1/2}`$ increases, $`i.e.`$ as the average surface brightness decreases. Even at fairly bright magnitudes ($`m_{814}21`$ mags), flux loss can be significant for galaxies with $`r_{1/2}`$$`>5`$$`h^1`$ kpc. Fortunately, the median half-light radius of the CL 1358+62 cluster sample is $`2.4\pm 1.2`$$`h^1`$ kpc so this should not affect our conclusions.

#### 5.1.2 Bulge/Total Luminosity

Figure 13 illustrates how the measured bulge fraction \[$`(B/T)_{OUT}`$\] differs from its input value as a function of measured $`m_{814}`$, $`B/T`$, and $`r_{1/2}`$. Above our magnitude cut of $`m_{814}=21`$, the systematic differences between input and measured $`B/T`$ are negligible and the random errors are $`<0.2`$ (see Fig. 14). These results lend confidence to measurement of the bulge/total luminosity for galaxies in our cluster sample.

#### 5.1.3 Half-Light Radius and Bulge/Disk Scale Lengths

Figure 15 (top panel) shows the fractional difference between input and measured values of $`r_{1/2}`$ as a function of bulge fraction. Recovery of the half-light radius is robust for $`m_{814}21`$ mags galaxies with systematic and random errors of less than 10% and 20% respectively. This is reiterated in the top panel of Fig. 16. Here we show the average input and measured $`r_{1/2}`$ values as a function of input bulge fraction. Only for the most bulge-dominated systems ($`B/T0.7`$) are the differences systematically larger than $`1\sigma `$ as due to the long wings of the de Vaucouleurs profile, flux at large radii can be lost in the sky background.

Recovery of disk exponential scale length for $`B/T<0.4`$ galaxies is excellent. At $`m_{814}21`$ mags, systematic and random errors for disk-dominated objects ($`B/T<0.4`$) are zero and $`<15\%`$ respectively (middle panel, Fig. 15). In fact, the simulations show that $`r_d`$ measurements are robust up to $`B/T0.8`$ (middle panel, Fig. 16).

In comparison, measurements of the bulge scale length are not as robust: $`r_e`$ tends to be underestimated ($`1020`$%) at all magnitudes (bottom panel, Figs. 15 & 16). Random errors, even for the most bulge-dominated systems, also are larger than those associated with the disk scale length. While this result is not surprising when considering the shape of the de Vaucouleurs profile, it can introduce a bias that would be particularly detrimental to large, bulge-dominated, low luminosity systems.

From these simulations, we determine that for the CL 1358+62 cluster sample: 1) Measurements of half-light radius across the range of $`B/T`$ are robust; 2) Disk scale lengths are reliable for galaxies with substantial disks ($`B/T<0.6`$); and 3) The systematic uncertainties associated with measuring bulge scale lengths requires that care be applied in their interpretation, especially for galaxies with a small bulge component ($`B/T<0.4`$).

#### 5.1.4 Bulge Ellipticity & Disk Inclination

To test the robustness of our results concerning ellipticals and S0’s, we compare input and measured values of bulge ellipticity and disk inclination. Figure 17 shows the average differences in bulge ellipticity and disk inclinations for artificial galaxies as a function of measured $`B/T`$ and apparent magnitude. At $`m_{814}21`$, both parameters are recovered well with median differences between input and measured values of approximately zero. The associated random errors in both ellipticity and cos $`i`$ are $`<0.1`$. As expected, random errors in the bulge ellipticity are largest for disk-dominated systems, and errors in cos $`i`$ largest in bulge-dominated systems.

### 5.2 Determining Sérsic Bulges

We find that fitting Sérsic bulges with exponential disks to the cluster members results in a significant correlation between visual type and bulge fraction (see Fig. 1). By fitting Sérsic profiles, however, we must test our ability to recover the true bulge power $`n`$. To do so, we create an artificial galaxy catalog of $`1500`$ galaxies in the F814W filter with bulge fraction $`0.5`$ and bulge power $`n`$ between 0.2 and 6; all other structural parameters are the same as for the deVaucouleurs bulge+exponential disk artificial catalog. As before, we discuss results only for galaxies with $`m_{814}21`$ mags.

#### 5.2.1 Recovery of the Sérsic Index $`n`$

For most galaxies (70%), we are within 0.5 of the true Sérsic bulge power $`n`$ (Fig. 18; top panel). Approximately 20% of the catalog, however, has $`\mathrm{\Delta }n1`$ and, in some cases, $`\mathrm{\Delta }n`$ can be as much as $`4`$. Even more disconcerting is the comparison of input versus measured bulge fraction (Fig. 18; lower panel). The distribution is skewed heavily towards underestimating the true bulge fraction (median $`\mathrm{\Delta }(B/T)14\%`$), and 23% of the galaxies are now considered disk-dominated systems even though none have input $`B/T<0.5`$.

These simulations emphasize that measuring reliable Sérsic $`n`$ and the corresponding bulge fraction requires 1) a combination of excellent resolution and high signal-to-noise; 2) understanding how noise affects the measurements; and 3) rigorous testing of structural parameters derived for each galaxy.

#### 5.2.2 Fitting Sérsic Bulges with $`r^{1/4}`$ Profiles

With the artificial catalog of Sérsic bulge+exponential disk galaxies, we address the question of how serious the errors would be if we modeled them as de Vaucouleurs ($`r^{1/4})`$ bulges. Figure 19 compares the input Sérsic $`B/T`$ compared to that recovered using the de Vaucouleurs profile. The distribution is as skewed towards underestimating the true bulge fraction as in Fig. 18; this is due primarily to high $`B/T`$ systems with bulge $`n1`$ being confused as disk-dominated systems (see §5.3). Even for galaxies with higher Sérsic indices ($`n>3`$), the average $`\mathrm{\Delta }(B/T)`$ is still larger than if the true bulge profile is $`r^{1/4}`$.

However, we find that the half-light radii ($``$sizes) are robust. As for bulge ellipticities and bulge scale lengths of bulge-dominated \[$`(B/T)_{OUT}0.4`$\] galaxies, the systematic errors are still negligible but the random errors are larger by $`2`$ and $`3`$ respectively. Despite the uncertainty in $`(B/T)`$, certain structural parameters such as half-light radius as well as bulge ellipticity and scale length \[for $`(B/T)_{OUT}0.4`$\] are reliable.

### 5.3 Determining Exponential Bulges

Although the correlation between visual type and bulge fraction as determined using a double exponential profile is poor (see Fig.1), we test our ability to recover this profile for completeness. We create an artificial galaxy catalog of 1500 galaxies with exponential bulges and disks in the F814W filter that spans the range of $`B/T`$. Again, we limit our discussion to galaxies with $`m_{814}21`$ mags.

Figure 20 illustrates how the bulge/disk components often are reversed such that bulge-dominated systems become disk-dominated ones and vice versa. This ambiguity manifests as the long tails in the two panels of Fig. 20. While our inability to recover the true double exponential profile is not a compelling argument for not using it, these simulations demonstrate that a more sophisticated version of this profile is needed. For example, incorporating a truncation radius (van der Kruit & Searle 1982; van der Kruit 1987; de Grijs et al. 2001; Kregel et al. 2002) for the bulge component may alleviate the ambiguity.

## 6 Conclusions

Combining deep wide field HST imaging ($`8^{}\times 8^{}`$ field; $`2.2\times 2.2`$ Mpc2) with ground-based spectroscopy, we characterize the physical properties of 173 cluster members in CL 1358+62 ($`z=0.3283`$). Our study is unique due to the large number of confirmed cluster members, the distance to the cluster, and the high physical resolution of the galaxies ($`0.27`$$`h^1`$ kpc). By fitting two component surface profiles directly to each galaxy, we measure their structural parameters and compare these results to current star formation, total galaxy colors, and cluster substructure. In this study, we examine the viability of three different bulge profiles (de Vaucouleurs, Sérsic, and exponential) paired with an exponential disk component.

We stringently test the robustness of our results by fitting thousands of artificial galaxies in the same manner as the sample; note that we assume galaxies are well-described by an $`r^{1/n}`$ bulge+exponential disk profile. As the artificial galaxy catalog spans the same range in luminosity, bulge fraction, half-light radius, and scale lengths as the cluster sample, we can quantify the systematic and random errors associated with the structural parameter measurements. From these simulations, we find that we tend to underestimate galaxy bulge fraction, especially for bulge-dominated objects. However, over the selected magnitude range ($`m_{814}21`$ mags; $`MB_z<17.3`$+5log$`h`$) for the de Vaucouleurs bulge+exponential disk profile, measurements of $`B/T`$ have systematic errors of $`<15`$%.

Our conclusions are as follows:

1. In this sample, the correlation between $`(B/T)_{deV}`$ and Hubble type ($`5T10`$) is strong (99% confidence), but the scatter is large. In particular, early-type spirals cannot be distinguished from ellipticals and S0’s based on their bulge fraction.
2. Using quantitative morphological parameters, we find a predominance of bulge-dominated (early-type) galaxies and an established morphology-density relation, both characteristics of a well-developped cluster.
3. The physical properties, $`i.e.`$ bulge ellipticities, disk inclinations, $`B/T`$, half-light radii, and internal velocity dispersions, of the low luminosity ($`17.3MB_z5\mathrm{log}h19.3`$) ellipticals and S0’s in our sample suggest that these ellipticals are likely to be face-on S0 galaxies.
4. We find a population ($`5`$%) of bulge-dominated, massive ($`\sigma >130`$ km s-1 ) members with significant \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ emission ($`<5`$Å), morphologically smooth profiles, and colors as red as the absorption galaxies; the latter is true for both their total and bulge component. These physical characteristics suggest they harbor AGN.
5. The most disk-dominated members ($`B/T<0.25`$) have significantly higher average \[OII\]$`\lambda 3727`$ equivalent widths than members with $`B/T0.25`$. Disk-dominated galaxies also tend to have high degrees of structural asymmetry.
6. Mimicking the sample with thousands of artificial galaxies is integral in understanding how robust correlations between physical and spectral properties are. In particular, measuring accurate Sérsic indices at these redshifts requires significantly higher signal-to-noise and/or resolution than that of our WFPC2 imaging.

Sincere thanks to D. Kelson and P. van Dokkum for their advice throughout this work. We appreciate the useful comments S. Faber and the referee provided on this manuscript. Support from NASA HST grants GO-05989.01 and GO-07372.01, and NASA grant NAG5-7697 is gratefully acknowledged.


text:
# Three questions in Gromov-Witten theory

## 1. Introduction

Let $`X`$ be a nonsingular projective variety over $``$. Gromov-Witten theory concerns integration over $`\overline{M}_{g,n}(X,\beta )`$, the moduli space of stable maps from genus $`g`$, $`n`$-pointed curves to $`X`$ representing the class $`\beta H_2(X,)`$. While substantial progress in the mathematical study of Gromov-Witten theory has been made in the past decade, several fundamental questions remain open. My goal here is to describe three conjectural directions:

1. Gorenstein properties of tautological rings,
2. BPS states for threefolds,
3. Virasoro constraints.

Each points to basic structures in Gromov-Witten theory which are not yet understood. New ideas in the subject will be required for answers to these questions.

## 2. Gorenstein properties of tautological rings

The study of the structure of the entire Chow ring of the moduli space of pointed curves $`\overline{M}_{g,n}`$ appears quite difficult at present. As the principal motive is to understand cycle classes obtained from algebro-geometric constructions, we may restrict inquiry to the system of tautological rings, $`R^{}(\overline{M}_{g,n})`$. The tautological system is defined to be the set of smallest $``$-subalgebras of the Chow rings,

$$R^{}(\overline{M}_{g,n})A^{}(\overline{M}_{g,n}),$$

satisfying the following three properties:

1. $`R^{}(\overline{M}_{g,n})`$ contains the cotangent line classes $`\psi _1,\mathrm{},\psi _n`$ where

$$\psi _i=c_1(L_i),$$

the first Chern class of the $`i`$th cotangent line bundle.
2. The system is closed under push-forward via all maps forgetting markings:

$$\pi _{}:R^{}(\overline{M}_{g,n})R^{}(\overline{M}_{g,n1}).$$
3. The system is closed under push-forward via all gluing maps:

$$\pi _{}:R^{}(\overline{M}_{g_1,n_1\{\}})_{}R^{}(\overline{M}_{g_2,n_2\{\}})R^{}(\overline{M}_{g_1+g_2,n_1+n_2}),$$

$$\pi _{}:R^{}(\overline{M}_{g_1,n_1\{,\}})R^{}(\overline{M}_{g_1+1,n_1}).$$

Natural algebraic constructions typically yield Chow classes lying in the tautological ring. See ,  for further discussion.

Consider the following basic filtration of the moduli space of pointed curves:

$$\overline{M}_{g,n}M_{g,n}^cM_{g,n}^{rt}C_{g,n}.$$

Here, $`M_{g,n}^c`$ denotes the moduli of pointed curves of compact type, $`M_{g,n}^{rt}`$ denotes the moduli of pointed curves with rational tails, and $`C_{g,n}`$ denotes the moduli of pointed curves with a fixed stabilized complex structure $`C_g`$. The choice of $`C_g`$ will play a role below.

The tautological rings for the elements of the filtration are defined by the images of $`R^{}(\overline{M}_{g,n})`$ in the associated quotient sequence:

$$R^{}(\overline{M}_{g,n})R^{}(M_{g,n}^c)R^{}(M_{g,n}^{rt})R^{}(C_{g,n})0$$
(2.1)
Remarkably, the tautological rings of the strata are conjectured to resemble cohomology rings of compact manifolds.

A finite dimension graded algebra $`R`$ is Gorenstein with socle in degree $`s`$ if there exists an evaluation isomorphism,

$$\varphi :R^s\stackrel{}{},$$

for which the bilinear pairings induced by the ring product,

$$R^r\times R^{sr}R^s\stackrel{\varphi }{},$$

are nondegenerate. The cohomology rings of compact manifolds are Gorenstein algebras.

###### Conjecture 1.

The tautological rings of the filtration of $`\overline{M}_{g,n}`$ are finite dimensional Gorenstein algebras.

The Gorenstein structure of $`R^{}(M_g)`$ with socle in degree $`g2`$ was discovered by Faber in his study of the Chow rings of $`M_g`$ in low genus. The general conjecture is primarily motivated by Faber’s original work and can be found in various stages in , , and .

The application of the conjecture to the stratum $`C_{g,n}`$ takes a special form due to the choice of the underlying curve $`C_g`$. The conjecture is stated for a nonsingular curve $`C_g`$ defined over $`\overline{}`$ or, alternatively, for the tautological ring in $`H^{}(C_{g,n},)`$. The tautological ring of $`C_{g,n}`$ in Chow is not Gorenstein for all $`C_g`$ by recent results of Green and Griffiths.

Two main questions immediately arise if the tautological rings are Gorenstein algebras:

1. Can the ring structure be described explicitly?
2. Are the tautological rings associated to embedded compact manifolds in the moduli space of pointed curves?

The tautological ring structures are implicitly determined by the conjectural Gorenstein property and the Virasoro constraints .

As the moduli space of curves may be viewed as a special case of the moduli space of maps, a development of these ideas may perhaps be pursued more fully in Gromov-Witten theory. It is possible to define a tautological ring for $`\overline{M}_{g,n}(X,\beta )`$ in the context of the virtual class by assuming the Gorenstein property, but no structure has been yet been conjectured. Again, the Virasoro constraints in principle determine the tautological rings.

## 3. BPS states for threefolds

Let $`X`$ be a nonsingular projective variety over $``$ of dimension 3. Let $`\{\gamma _a\}_{aA}`$ be a basis of $`H^{}(X,)`$ modulo torsion. Let $`\{\gamma _a\}_{aD_2}`$ and $`\{\gamma _a\}_{aD_{>2}}`$ denote the classes of degree 2 and degree greater than 2 respectively. The Gromov-Witten invariants of $`X`$ are defined by integration over the moduli space of stable maps (against the virtual fundamental class):

$$\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n}_{g,\beta }^X=_{[\overline{M}_{g,n}(X,\beta )]^{vir}}\text{ev}_1^{}(\gamma _{a_1})\mathrm{}\text{ev}_n^{}(\gamma _{a_n}),$$
(3.1)
where $`\text{ev}_i`$ is the $`i`$th evaluation map. As the moduli spaces are Deligne-Mumford stacks, the Gromov-Witten invariants take values in $``$.

Let $`\{t_a\}`$ be a set of variables corresponding to the classes $`\{\gamma _a\}`$. The Gromov-Witten potential $`F^X(t,\lambda )`$ of $`X`$ may be written,

$$F^X=F_{\beta =0}^X+\stackrel{~}{F}^X,$$
(3.2)
as a sum of constant and nonconstant map contributions.

The constant map contribution $`F_{\beta =0}^X`$ may be further divided by genus:

$$F_{\beta =0}^X=F_{\beta =0}^0+F_{\beta =0}^1+\underset{g2}{}F_{\beta =0}^g.$$

The genus 0 constant contribution records the classical intersection theory of $`X`$:

$$F_{\beta =0}^0=\lambda ^2\underset{a_1,a_2,a_3A}{}\frac{t_{a_3}t_{a_2}t_{a_1}}{3!}_X\gamma _{a_1}\gamma _{a_2}\gamma _{a_3}.$$

The genus 1 constant contribution is obtained from a virtual class calculation:

$$F_{\beta =0}^1=\underset{aD_2}{}t_a\gamma _a_{g=1,\beta =0}^X=\underset{aD_2}{}\frac{t_a}{24}_X\gamma _ac_2(X).$$

Similarly, the genus $`g2`$ contributions are

$$F_{\beta =0}^g=1_{g,\beta =0}^X=(1)^g\frac{\lambda ^{2g2}}{2}_X\left(c_3(X)c_1(X)c_2(X)\right)_{\overline{M}_g}\lambda _{g1}^3.$$

The Hodge integrals which arise here have been computed in :

$$_{\overline{M}_g}\lambda _{g1}^3=\frac{|B_{2g}|}{2g}\frac{|B_{2g2}|}{2g2}\frac{1}{(2g2)!},$$

where $`B_{2g}`$ and $`B_{2g2}`$ are Bernoulli numbers. The constant map contributions to $`F^X`$ are therefore completely understood.

The second term in (3.2) is the nonconstant map contribution:

$$\stackrel{~}{F}^X=\underset{g0}{}\underset{\beta 0}{}F_\beta ^g.$$

Since the virtual dimension of the moduli space $`\overline{M}_g(X,\beta )`$ is

$$_\beta c_1(X)+3g3+33g=_\beta c_1(X),$$

the classes $`\beta `$ satisfying $`_\beta c_1(X)<0`$ do not contribute to the potential $`F^X`$. Therefore, $`\stackrel{~}{F}^X`$ may be divided into two sums:

$`\stackrel{~}{F}^X`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{g0}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\beta 0,_\beta c_1(X)=0}{}}F_\beta ^g`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{g0}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\beta 0,_\beta c_1(X)>0}{}}F_\beta ^g.`$
In case $`\beta 0`$, we will write the series $`F_\beta ^g(t,\lambda )`$ in the following form:

$$F_\beta ^g=\lambda ^{2g2}q^\beta \underset{n0}{}\frac{1}{n!}\underset{a_1,\mathrm{},a_nD_{>2}}{}t_{a_n}\mathrm{}t_{a_1}\gamma _{a_1}\mathrm{}\gamma _{a_n}_{g,\beta }^X.$$

The degree 2 variables $`\{t_a\}_{aD_2}`$ are formally suppressed in $`q`$ via the divisor equation:

$$q^\beta =\underset{aD_2}{}q_a^{_\beta \gamma _a},q_a=e^{t_a}.$$

Cohomology classes of degree 0 or 1 do not appear in nonvanishing Gromov-Witten invariants (3.1) for curve classes $`\beta 0`$.

We will define new invariants $`n_\beta ^g(\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n})`$ for every genus $`g`$, curve class $`\beta 0`$, and classes $`\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n}`$. Our primary interest will be in the case where the following conditions hold:

1. $`\mathrm{deg}(\gamma _{a_i})>2`$ for all $`i`$.
2. $`n+_\beta c_1(X)=_{i=1}^n\mathrm{deg}(\gamma _{a_i}).`$

The invariants will be defined to satisfy the divisor equation (which allows for the extraction of degree 2 classes $`\gamma _a`$) and defined to vanish if degree 0 or 1 classes are inserted or if condition (ii) is violated. If $`_\beta c_1(X)=0`$, then $`n_\beta ^g`$ is well-defined without cohomology insertions.

The new invariants $`n_\beta ^g(\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n})`$ are defined via Gromov-Witten theory by the following equation:

$`\stackrel{~}{F}^X`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{g0}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\beta 0,_\beta c_1(X)=0}{}}n_\beta ^g\lambda ^{2g2}{\displaystyle \underset{d>0}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{d}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}(d\lambda /2)}{\lambda /2}}\right)^{2g2}q^{d\beta }`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{g0}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\beta 0,_\beta c_1(X)>0}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{n0}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n!}}{\displaystyle \underset{a_1,\mathrm{},a_nD_{>2}}{}}t_{a_n}\mathrm{}t_{a_1}`$
$`n_\beta ^g(\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n})\lambda ^{2g2}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}(\lambda /2)}{\lambda /2}}\right)^{2g2+_\beta c_1(X)}q^\beta .`$
The above equation uniquely determines the invariants $`n_\beta ^g(\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n})`$.

###### Conjecture 2.

For all nonsingular projective threefolds $`X`$,

1. the invariants $`n_\beta ^g(\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n})`$ are integers,
2. for fixed $`\beta `$, the invariants $`n_\beta ^g(\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n})`$ vanish for all sufficiently large genera $`g`$.

If $`X`$ is a Calabi-Yau threefold, the Gopakumar-Vafa conjecture is recovered , . Here, the invariants $`n_\beta ^g`$ arise as BPS state counts in a study of Type IIA string theory on $`X`$ via M-theory. The outcome is a physical deduction of the conjecture in the Calabi-Yau case.

Gopakumar and Vafa further propose a mathematical construction of the Calabi-Yau invariants $`n_\beta ^g`$ using moduli spaces of sheaves on $`X`$. The invariants $`n_\beta ^g`$ should arise as multiplicities of special representations of $`𝔰𝔩_2`$ in the cohomology of the moduli space of sheaves. The local Calabi-Yau threefold consisting of a curve $`C`$ together with a rank 2 normal bundle $`N`$ satisfying $`c_1(N)=\omega _C`$ should be the most basic case. Here the BPS states $`n_d^g`$ should be found in the cohomology of an appropriate moduli space of rank $`d`$ bundles on $`C`$. A mathematical development of the proposed connection between integrals over the moduli of stable maps and the cohomology of the moduli of sheaves has not been completed. However, evidence for the program can be found both in local and global calculations in several cases , , .

The conjecture for arbitrary threefolds is motivated by the Calabi-Yau case together with the degeneracy calculations of . Evidence can be found, for example, in the low genus enumerative geometry of $`𝐏^3`$ , . If the conjecture is true, the invariants $`n_\beta ^g(\gamma _{a_1},\mathrm{},\gamma _{a_n})`$ of $`𝐏^3`$ may be viewed as defining an integral enumerative geometry of space curves for all $`g`$ and $`\beta `$. Classically the enumerative geometry of space curves does not admit a uniform description.

The conjecture does not determine the Gromov-Witten invariants of threefolds. A basic related question is to find some means to calculate higher genus invariants of Calabi-Yau threefolds. The basic test case is the quintic hypersurface in $`𝐏^4`$. There are several approaches to the genus 0 invariants of the quintic: Mirror symmetry, localization, degeneration, and Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch ,, ,,. But, the higher genus invariants of the quintic are still beyond current string theoretic and geometric techniques. The best tool for the higher genus Calabi-Yau case, the holomorphic anomaly equation, is not well understood in mathematics. On the other hand, all the invariants of $`𝐏^3`$ may be in principle calculated by virtual localization .

## 4. Virasoro constraints

Let $`X`$ be a nonsingular projective variety over $``$ of dimension $`r`$. Let $`\{\gamma _a\}`$ be a basis of $`H^{}(X,)`$ homogeneous with respect to the Hodge decomposition,

$$\gamma _aH^{p_a,q_a}(X,),$$

The descendent Gromov-Witten invariants of $`X`$ are:

$$\tau _{k_1}(\gamma _{a_1})\mathrm{}\tau _{k_n}(\gamma _{a_n})_{g,\beta }^X=_{[\overline{M}_{g,n}(X,\beta )]^{vir}}\psi _1^{k_1}\mathrm{ev}_1^{}(\gamma _{a_1})\mathrm{}\psi _n^{k_n}\mathrm{ev}_n^{}(\gamma _{a_n}).$$

Let $`\{t_k^a\}`$ be a set of variables. Let $`F^X(t,\lambda )`$ be the generating function of the descendent invariants:

$$F^X=\underset{g0}{}\lambda ^{2g2}\underset{\beta H_2(X,)}{}q^\beta \underset{n0}{}\frac{1}{n!}\underset{\begin{array}{c}a_1\mathrm{}a_n\\ k_1\mathrm{}k_n\end{array}}{}t_{k_n}^{a_n}\mathrm{}t_{k_1}^{a_1}\tau _{k_1}(\gamma _{a_1})\mathrm{}\tau _{k_n}(\gamma _{a_n})_{g,\beta }^X.$$

The partition function $`Z^X`$ is formed by exponentiating $`F^X`$:

$$Z^X=\mathrm{exp}(F^X).$$
(4.1)
We will now define formal differential operators $`\{L_k\}_{k1}`$ in the variables $`t_k^a`$ satisfying the Virasoro bracket,

$$[L_k,L_{\mathrm{}}]=(k\mathrm{})L_{k+\mathrm{}}.$$

The definitions of the operators $`L_k`$ will depend only upon the following three structures of $`H^{}(X,)`$:

1. the intersection pairing $`g_{ab}=_X\gamma _a\gamma _b`$,
2. the Hodge decomposition $`\gamma _aH^{p_a,q_a}(X,)`$,
3. the action of the anticanonical class $`c_1(X)`$.

The formulas for the operators $`L_k`$ are:

$`L_k`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=0}{\overset{k+1}{}}}`$ $`([b_a+m]_i^k(C^i)_a^b\stackrel{~}{t}_m^a_{b,m+ki}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}}{2}}(1)^{m+1}[b_am1]_i^k(C^i)^{ab}_{a,m}_{b,kmi1})`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda ^2}{2}}(C^{k+1})_{ab}t_0^at_0^b`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _{k0}}{48}}{\displaystyle _X}\left((3r)c_r(X)2c_1(X)c_{r1}(X)\right),`$
where the Einstein convention for summing over the repeated indices $`a,bA`$ is followed.

Several terms require definitions. For each class $`\gamma _a`$, a half integer $`b_a`$ is obtained from the Hodge decomposition,

$$b_a=p_a+(1r)/2.$$

The combinatorial factor $`[x]_i^k`$ is defined by:

$$[x]_i^k=e_{k+1i}(x,x+1,\mathrm{},x+k),$$

where $`e_k`$ is the $`k`$th elementary symmetric function. The matrix $`C_a^b`$ is determined by the action of the anticanonical class,

$$C_a^b\gamma _b=c_1(X)\gamma _a.$$

The indices of $`C`$ are lowered and raised by the metric $`g_{ab}`$ and its inverse $`g^{ab}`$. The terms $`\stackrel{~}{t}_m^a`$ and $`_{a,m}`$ are defined by:

$`\stackrel{~}{t}_m^a`$ $`=`$ $`t_m^a\delta _{a0}\delta _{m1},`$
$`_{a,m}`$ $`=`$ $`/t_m^a,`$
where both are understood to vanish if $`m<0`$.

###### Conjecture 3.

For all nonsingular projective varieties $`X`$, $`L_k(Z^X)=0`$.

The conjecture for varieties $`X`$ with only $`(p,p)`$ cohomology was made by Eguchi, Hori, and Xiong . The full conjecture involves ideas of Katz. In case $`X`$ is a point, the constraints specialize to the known Virasoro formulation of Witten’s conjecture ,  (see also ). After the point, the simplest varieties occur in two basic families: curves $`C_g`$ of genus $`g`$ and projective spaces $`𝐏^n`$ of dimension $`n`$. A proof of the Virasoro constraints for target curves $`C_g`$ is presented in a sequence of papers , , . Givental has recently proven the Virasoro constraints for the projective spaces $`𝐏^n`$ , , . The two families of varieties are quite different in flavor. Curves are of dimension 1, but have non-$`(p,p)`$ cohomology, non-semisimple quantum cohomology, and do not always carry torus actions. Projective spaces cover all target dimensions, but have algebraic cohomology, semisimple quantum cohomology, and always carry torus actions.

The Virasoro constraints are especially appealing from the point of view of algebraic geometry as all nonsingular projective varieties are covered. While many aspects of Gromov-Witten theory may be more naturally pursued in the symplectic category, the Virasoro constraints appear to require more than a symplectic structure to define. For example, the bracket

$$[L_1,L_1]=2L_0,$$

depends upon formulas expressing the Chern numbers,

$$_Xc_r(X),_Xc_1(X)c_{r1}(X),$$

in terms of the Hodge numbers $`h^{p,q}`$ of $`X`$ (see \]).

The Virasoro constraints may be a shadow of a deeper connection between the Gromov-Witten theory of algebraic varieties and integrable systems. In case the target is the point or the projective line, precise connections have been made to the KdV and Toda hierarchies respectively. The connections are proven by explicit formulas for the descendent invariants in terms of matrix integrals (for the point) and vacuum expectation in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\frac{\mathrm{}}{2}V`$ (for the projective line) , , . The extent of the relationship between Gromov-Witten theory and integrable systems is not known. In particular, an understanding of the surface case would be of great interest. Perhaps a link to integrable systems can be found in the circle of ideas involving Hilbert schemes of points, Heisenberg algebras, and Göttsche’s conjectures concerning the enumerative geometry of linear series.

Finally, one might expect Virasoro constraints to hold in the context of Gromov-Witten theory relative to divisors in the target $`X`$. For the relative theory of 1-dimensional targets $`X`$, Virasoro constraints have been found and play a crucial role in the proof of the Virasoro constraints for the absolute theory of $`X`$ .