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# Collective quantities of a fermionic particle beam in a circular accelerator near zero temperature

## I Introduction

When a relativistic particle travels in a focusing dominated beamline, it can be viewed, in its rest frame, as a particle in a harmonic oscillator potential. Emission of dipole radiation will lead to transverse energy loss; quantum-mechanically, the particle will drop down one energy level by emission of a photon. This mechanism will, in the absence of competing heating mechanisms, ultimately lead to a cooling down of the particle’s transverse action to its quantum-mechanical limit of $`J_{\text{min}}=\frac{h}{2}`$. This result has been established in Huang (1999), however, only single-particle dynamics is considered there.

In the multi-particle case, some care has to be taken if the particles in question are fermions, as Pauli’s exclusion principle has to be considered when constructing the ground state; it has been claimed elsewhereMikhailichenko (1999) that this will limit the admissible minimum emittance to values not too far out of the reach of today’s technologies.

In this paper, the emittances for a relativistic fermion bunch and a coasting beam are calculated for temperatures close to zero. We will show that the quantum-mechanical limit for the transverse emittances for typical configurations are vastly smaller than values reached today.

## II Calculating collective quantities: the Wigner transformation

In this paper, we want to calculate the emittance of a multi-particle system. The classical emittance is defined in terms of classical expectation values, i. e. particle averages, as $`\epsilon ^2=p^2_{\text{Cl}}q^2_{\text{Cl}}pq_{\text{Cl}}^2`$. A quantum version of this and similar quantities can be obtained by interpreting the Wigner transform of the state of the quantum system in question as a classical probability distribution.

Consider an $`N`$-particle system in a pure state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }=P|n_1\mathrm{}|n_n`$, where $`P`$ is the (anti)symmetrizing operator, the particles in question being (fermions) bosons. Now, we can create a pseudo-classical probability distribution $`\rho (q_1,p_1;\mathrm{};q_N,p_N)`$ by using the Wigner transform of the product wavefunction. It is easy to see that all expectation values of this phase-space distribution are the same as the ones of the Wigner transform of a one-particle statistical matrix with equal weights in all states. We can thus conclude that the appropriate quantum version of the classical expectation values above is obtained by replacing the classical average $`f(p,q)`$ by $`f(p_{op},q_{op})_{\text{Qm}}_{|n_i}`$, i. e., the quantum-mechanical expectation value for the corresponding operator function, averaged over the occupied states.

## III Dynamics

Consider an ultra-relativistic particle beam in a circular accelerator. Neglecting higher-order effects, the Hamiltonian can be written as a quadratic form in the usual phase-space coördinates $`x,x^{},y,y^{},\sigma ,\delta `$.

However, this Hamiltonian is not appropriate for quantization, as energy and time have switched roles. Thus, we use the Hamiltonian of the system in the beam’s frame of reference, which can be obtained by a series of canonical transformation from the lab frameWei et al. (1993):

$$H=\frac{p_x^2}{2}+\frac{p_y^2}{2}+\frac{p_z^2}{2}\frac{\gamma ^2\beta xp_z}{R}+\beta ^2\gamma ^2\left(\kappa _x\frac{\gamma ^2}{R^2}\right)\frac{x^2}{2}+\beta ^2\gamma ^2\kappa _y\frac{y^2}{2}+\mathrm{\Phi }_{RF}(z)\text{,}$$
(1)
where $`\gamma `$ is the relativistic factor, $`\kappa _{x,y}`$ the (possibly local) focusing strengths (in the case of magnetic quadrupoles, one has $`\kappa _x=\kappa _y`$) and $`\mathrm{\Phi }(z)`$ the external electric potential. The directions $`x,y,z`$ are radial, transversal, and tangential, respectively. Note that we use units with $`\mathrm{}=c=k_B=m_0`$ throughout, so all quantities are expressed in powers of the Compton length of the particles in question.

The longitudinal part of the Hamiltonian depends on the physical setup. The particles might either be confined by the nearly harmonic potential of the RF bucket, or we have case of a coasting beam, where the only constraints imposed on the longitudinal motion are the ones due to the periodicity of the problem. In the sequel, we will consider both cases.

## IV Anisotropic Oscillator

Let us assume that the longitudinal motion is determined by the presence of an RF bucket. We can approximate the potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ by expanding it to 2nd order in $`z`$. For reasons of simplicity, we only take into account the $`\mathrm{O}(z^2)`$ term, i. e., we assume that the particle is on the orbit and is not losing energy.

For a bunched beam with dimensions $`\sigma _z,\sigma _\delta `$, we have, in the orbit frame, $`\omega _l\gamma \sigma _l=\sigma _\delta `$.

The longitudinal and radial parts of the hamiltonian (1) have the form

$$H=\underset{i=1}{\overset{2}{}}\frac{p_i^2}{2}+\frac{\omega _i^2q_i^2}{2}\mu q_1p_2\text{.}$$
(2)
Its eigenfrequencies are determined by the equation

$$\lambda ^4+\lambda ^2(\omega _1^2+\omega _2^2)+\omega _2^2(\mu ^2\omega _1^2)=0\text{,}$$
(3)
which leads to stable motion for

$$(\omega _1^2+\omega _2^2)>4\omega _2^2(\mu ^2\omega _1^2)>0\text{.}$$

The first condition will always be fulfilled for realistic machines. The second one corresponds to the machine being below or above transition: if the second factor changes sign, the eigenfrequency can be mad real again by flipping the sign of $`\omega _z^2\mathrm{\Phi }_{RF}^{\prime \prime }`$. However, the absolute sign of both the kinetic and the potential term will change, leading to the (for purposes of constructing the quantum-mechanical ground state) pathological case of a hamiltonian not limited from below. In the sequel, we will assume the machine is below transition.

Thus, expanding (1) to first non-trivial order in the canonical coördinates and applying the canonical transformation removing the mixed term in (2), we obtain the Hamiltonian of a 3-dimensional harmonic oscillator with corrected frequencies given by (3); the ground state is characterized by the occupation numbers $`n_n^d\{0,1\}`$ where $`n_d^i=N`$ of the oscillator levels. For sake of generality, we consider the case of $`d`$ dimensions. The ground state for a given particle number can be constructed by successively filling states with the lowest energy (we disregard spin here, which can be easily reintroduced by replacing $`N2N`$ in the final formulae).

In $`\frac{E}{ϵ_F}`$-space, the Fermi sea is just a unit $`d`$-simplex, in $`n_i`$-space, a $`d`$-simplex with axes of length $`\frac{\omega _1}{ϵ_F},\mathrm{}\frac{\omega _d}{ϵ_F}`$. Thus, the particle number for a ground state filled up to the Fermi energy $`ϵ_F`$, where we have disregarded the zero-mode energy $`\frac{1}{2}_i\omega _i`$ of the oscillator,

$$N=\frac{ϵ_F^d}{\mathrm{\Omega }d!}\text{,}$$

the volume of an unit $`d`$-simplex being $`\frac{1}{d!}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\omega _1\mathrm{}\omega _d`$.

The energy in the $`i`$th degree of freedom in that case is given by a sum over the $`d`$-simplex. Replacing all sums by integrals, we have

$$E_i=\frac{ϵ_F^d}{\mathrm{\Omega }}_0^1_0^{1q_1}\mathrm{}_0^{1_{k=1}^{d1}q_k}ϵ_Fq_idq_1\mathrm{}dq_d=\frac{ϵ_F^{d+1}}{\mathrm{\Omega }(d+1)!}=\frac{Nϵ_F}{d+1}\text{.}$$

We calculate the emittance by using its statistical definition $`\epsilon ^2=p^2q^2pq^2`$ and replacing the classical averages by the ones discussed in II.

For a harmonic oscillator, we have $`p^2_{\text{Qm}}q^2_{\text{Qm}}=n`$ and $`pq_{\text{Qm}}=0`$, so:

$$\epsilon _i=n_i_{|n_i}=\frac{E_i}{N\omega _i}=\frac{ϵ_F}{\omega _i(d+1)}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^{\frac{1}{d}}}{\omega _i(d+1)}\sqrt[d]{Nd!}\text{.}$$
(4)
and the total phase-space volume

$`\epsilon ^{(d)}`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{d}{}}}\epsilon _i={\displaystyle \frac{Nd!}{(d+1)^d}}`$
$`\epsilon ^{(3)}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{3}{32}}N`$
Thus, the projected emittances scale as $`N^{\frac{1}{d}}`$, as one would naïvely assume. Furthermore, due to the occurrence of the geometric mean of the frequencies in (4), the projected emittance in one dimension can be lowered by shallowing the potential in the other dimensions.

Note that a similar approach has been chosen elsewhere; \[Mikhailichenko (1999)\] gives an estimate for $`\epsilon _{min}`$ from a similar reasoning, but ends up (due to a miscounting of the states) with a scaling different from our result.

## V Mixed Case: Longitudinally Free Particles

So far, we have assumed an anisotropic oscillator. But given the case of a particle moving freely longitudinally, the energy content of that degree of freedom will be given by the square of the (angular) momentum. (We might consider the boundary conditions imposed by a periodic box instead of a circular arrangement.) We treat the general case, i. e., a hamiltonian

$$H=\underset{\stackrel{~}{i}=1}{\overset{\stackrel{~}{d}}{}}\stackrel{~}{\omega }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}^2\stackrel{~}{n}_{\stackrel{~}{i}}^2+\underset{i=1}{\overset{d}{}}\omega _in_i\text{.}$$

The emittance in each of $`\stackrel{~}{d}`$ new degrees of freedom is given by $`p^2_{\text{Qm}}=\frac{n^2\pi ^2}{D^2}=2E_n`$ and $`q^2_{\text{Qm}}=\frac{D^2}{12}`$, where $`D`$ is the length of the enclosing potential, and $`pq_{\text{Qm}}=0`$, so

$$\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}=D\sqrt{\frac{\stackrel{~}{E}_{\stackrel{~}{i}}_{|n}}{6}}=\sqrt{\stackrel{~}{E}_{\stackrel{~}{i}}_{|n}}\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{12}\stackrel{~}{\omega }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}}\text{.}$$

Rescaling the integration range to a unit sphere and unit simplex, we get

$$N=\frac{ϵ_F^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+d}}{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\stackrel{~}{d}\text{-sphere}}_{d\text{-simplex}}^{1\stackrel{~}{q}^2}dqd\stackrel{~}{q}=\frac{\pi ^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}}ϵ_F^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+d}}{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{2d+\stackrel{~}{d}+2}{2}\right)}\text{,}$$
(5)
We can readily write down the averaged values of the energy in the different degrees of freedom:

$$\frac{\stackrel{~}{E}_{\stackrel{~}{i}}}{ϵ_F}=\stackrel{~}{q}^2=\frac{_0^1\stackrel{~}{q}^2(1\stackrel{~}{q}^2)^{\frac{d1}{2}+d}d\stackrel{~}{q}}{_0^1(1\stackrel{~}{q}^2)^{\frac{d1}{2}+d}d\stackrel{~}{q}}=\frac{1}{2d+\stackrel{~}{d}+2}$$

and

$$\frac{E_i}{ϵ_F}=q=\frac{_0^1q(1q)^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+d1}dq}{_0^1(1q)^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+d1}dq}=\frac{2}{2d+\stackrel{~}{d}+2}$$
(6)
so

$$\epsilon _i=\frac{ϵ_F}{\omega _i}\frac{2}{\stackrel{~}{d}+2d+2}N^{\frac{2}{\stackrel{~}{d}+2d}}$$
(7)
and

$$\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}=\sqrt{\frac{ϵ_F}{\stackrel{~}{\omega }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}}}\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{12}(\stackrel{~}{d}+2d+2)}N^{\frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{d}+2d}}$$

and the product emittance is

$$\epsilon ^{(d,\stackrel{~}{d})}=\frac{\pi ^{\stackrel{~}{d}}2^dϵ_F^{d+\frac{d}{2}}}{12^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}}(\stackrel{~}{d}+2d+2)^{d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}=\left(\frac{\pi }{24}\right)^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+d+1\right)}{\left(\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+d+1\right)^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+d}}N\text{.}$$

Of course, by putting $`\stackrel{~}{d}=0`$, we regain the formulae for the bunched-beam case.

Putting in a real coasting-beam ring, we can express the orbit-frame frequencies by the tuneVenturini and Ruth (2000): $`\omega _x\omega _y=\frac{\beta \nu _y}{\gamma L}`$, where $`L`$ is the length of the ring. The longitudinal momentum is quantized in units of $`\frac{\pi }{\gamma L}`$, so $`\omega _l=\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}\gamma L}`$ and

$$\epsilon _x=q\frac{ϵ_F}{\omega _x}=\frac{1}{7}\sqrt[5]{\frac{225\pi N^2}{256\gamma L\nu }}\text{.}$$

This means the transverse degrees of freedom begin to exhibit a non-minimal emittance for $`N>N_0`$, where

$$N_078.0\sqrt{\frac{\nu \gamma L}{\lambda _{\text{Compton}}}}$$

in usual units, and the transverse emittances will grow $`N^{\frac{2}{5}}`$ for higher particle numbers.

For parameters one could consider for a real focusing-dominated, below-transition ring ($`\gamma =10,\nu =100,L=2\pi \text{m}`$), we get $`N_01.010^{10}`$ particles; i. e., the beam will have, for realistic particle numbers, an emittance close to its minimum value. ($`\lambda _{\text{Compton}}`$ in customary units.)

## VI Self-consistent tune shift for the Fermi condensate

In our construction, we tacitly assume that the particle-particle interaction does not modify the particle content of the ground state. This corresponds precisely to the notion of a Fermi liquid (in our case, a highly anisotropic one), in which the free particle spectrum smoothly deforms into the quasi-particle spectrum of equal particle content when the interaction is switched on adiabatically. This naïve assumption of the existence of a Fermi surface may break down if we take into account particle-particle interactions.

For the case of the system being below transition, we can make the following semi-quantitative argument for the existence of a Fermi liquid: In a “mean-field calculation”, we estimate the effective transverse focusing strength $`\omega _{\text{eff}}`$ to be the sum of the external focusing and a space-charge tune depression due to a circular beam of radius $`\sqrt{x^2}`$:

$$\omega _{\text{eff}}^2=\omega _{\text{ext}}^2\omega _{\text{SC}}^2=\omega _{\text{ext}}^2\frac{Ne^2}{2\gamma Lx^2}.$$

In the follwing, we consider a coasting beam. We have $`x^2\omega _{\text{eff}}^2=E_x`$, where $`E_x`$ is given by (6). We use (5) with $`\omega =\omega _{\text{eff}}`$ to eliminate $`ϵ_F`$ and obtain a consistency condition for $`\omega _{\text{eff}}`$:

$$\left(\frac{\omega _{\text{eff}}}{\omega _{\text{ext}}}\right)^2\left[1+\left(\frac{\omega _{\text{int}}}{\omega _{\text{ext}}}\right)^{4/5}\left(\frac{\omega _{\text{eff}}}{\omega _{\text{ext}}}\right)^{4/5}\right]=1\text{,}$$
(8)
where we have introduced

$$\omega _{\text{int}}=\omega _{\text{ext}}\frac{\sqrt[4]{2^37^5r_{\text{cl}}^5(\gamma L)N^3}}{\nu \sqrt{15\pi ^3\mathrm{\lambda ̄}_{\text{Compton}}^3}}\text{.}$$
(9)
(8) has a solution $`\omega _{\text{eff}}<\omega _{\text{ext}}`$ for for all $`N`$. This corrected frequency has to be substituted in the equations in the previous section, leading to corrected values for the emittances.

For typical setups, $`\omega _{\text{int}}\omega _{\text{ext}}`$

(using the ring parameters from above and $`N=10^{10}`$ particles, we end up with $`\omega _{\text{int}}/\omega _{\text{ext}}2.1410^6`$ and $`\epsilon _{i,\text{corrected}}18.5\epsilon _i`$), so $`\frac{\omega _{\text{eff}}}{\omega _{\text{ext}}}\left(\frac{\omega _{\text{int}}}{\omega _{\text{ext}}}\right)^{\frac{2}{3}}`$. The scaling of the transverse emittances is $`\omega _{\text{eff}}^{\frac{1}{5}}`$; with (9), $`\omega _{\text{eff}}N^{\frac{1}{2}}`$, so we end up with a corrected scaling for the case of large particle numbers: $`\epsilon _iN^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ instead of $`\epsilon _iN^{\frac{2}{5}}`$ from (7).

This modified scaling law means that the transverse phase space volume scales as $`\epsilon _x\epsilon _y=\mathrm{O}(N)`$: adding a new particle to the coasting beam’s ground state will lower the transverse frequencies, thus increasing the state density, so a new site becomes available in transverse phase space, while the longitudinal phase space retains its original volume. In particluar, this means that kinetic and potential energy always will balance out, $`ϵ_Fϵ_{kin}ϵ_{pot}`$, keeping the system at the boundary of a “weakly non-ideal” and a “strongly non-ideal” gas. Thus, the simple criterion $`ϵ_{kin}ϵpot`$ for quantum Wigner crystallization is not applicable for any external focusing strength. This property is peculiar to the external oscillator potential and is not present for other confining potentials.

## VII Finite Temperature

The above considerations were for the case of zero temperature. To generalize to finite temperatures, we follow the usual prescription and introduce a chemical potential. The quantity we want to calculate is the logarithm of the partition function of the grand-canonical ensemble:

$$\mathrm{log}Z=\mathrm{log}\underset{n_𝒊\{0,1\}}{}e^{\beta _𝒊n_𝒊\left(_{k=1}^d\omega _k(i_k+\frac{1}{2})\mu \right)}=\underset{i_k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{log}\left(1+e^{\beta \left({\scriptscriptstyle \omega _k(i_k+{\scriptscriptstyle \frac{1}{2}})}\mu \right)}\right)\text{.}$$

Again, we transform the sum into an integral. With (5), we integrate over energy

$$\mathrm{log}Z=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}\right)}_0^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{log}\left(1+e^{\beta (E\mu )}\right)E^{d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}1}dE\text{.}$$

For small temperatures, integrals of this style can be done by integrating by parts and then be approximated using a Sommerfeld expansion. We find

$$\mathrm{log}Z=\frac{\beta \pi ^{\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+1\right)}\left(\frac{\mu ^{d+1}}{d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+1}+\left(d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}\right)\frac{\mu ^{d1}\pi ^2}{6\beta ^2}+\mathrm{}\right)\text{.}$$

As

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \epsilon _i& =\frac{1}{\beta N}\frac{}{\omega _i}\mathrm{log}Z\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}& =\sqrt{\frac{\pi ^2}{24\beta N\omega _{\stackrel{~}{i}}}\frac{}{\stackrel{~}{\omega }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}}\mathrm{log}Z}\hfill \end{array}\}\text{,}$$

we can write the temperature-dependent contributions to the emittances:

$$\begin{array}{c}\hfill \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\epsilon _i}{\epsilon _i}=\frac{T^2\pi ^2}{6ϵ_F^2}\left(d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}\right)\left(d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+1\right)\\ \hfill \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}}{\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_{\stackrel{~}{i}}}=\frac{T^2\pi ^2}{12ϵ_F^2}\left(d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}\right)\left(d+\frac{\stackrel{~}{d}}{2}+1\right)\end{array}\}$$
(10)
where we have used the zero-temperature $`ϵ_F`$ as chemical potential, which is correct in this order of $`\beta `$. Thus, the emittances grow quadratically in the temperature, with the scale being set by $`ϵ_F`$. For the parameters from above and $`N=10^{10}`$ particles, one finds, from (10), a transverse emittance-doubling temperature of $`T=0.03K`$.

## VIII Acknowledgments

I wish to thank R. Ruth and M. Venturini for useful discussions.


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# The Culler-Shalen seminorms of the (-3,3,4) pretzel knot

## Introduction

Let $`KS^3`$ be a hyperbolic knot. We have been developing machinery which parlays a little information about such a knot into a rather thorough understanding of its $`\text{SL}_2()`$ character variety as well as a classification of its finite and cyclic fillings. As an example of our method, we will examine the case where $`K`$ is the $`(3,3,4)`$ pretzel knot (see Figure 1).

There are three types of input necessary for our approach.

1. A listing of the boundary slopes of the knot. For example Hatcher and Oertel \[HO\] have discussed how to determine the boundary slopes of any Montesinos knot.
2. Information about $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$, the two-fold branched cyclic cover of the knot. Again, Montesinos knots are good candidates in this regard as $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ is then a Seifert fibred manifold.
3. At least one non-trivial finite, cyclic, or small Seifert surgery.

Given this data, we can generally determine the number of components of the $`\text{SL}_2()`$ character variety of the knot as well as the Culler-Shalen seminorms on each component. This allows us to classify all finite and cyclic surgeries on the knot. Part of our motivation in presenting this work is to solicit examples of other knots meeting our input criteria.

Our algorithm has been successfully applied to the twist knots \[BMZ\] and the $`(2,3,n)`$ pretzel knots \[M1\]. The twist knots are Montesinos knots which each admit three small Seifert surgeries and are therefore amenable to our methods. The $`\text{SL}_2()`$ character variety of a twist knot consists of two algebraic curves and these knots admit no non-trivial finite or cyclic surgeries. As for the $`(2,3,n)`$ pretzel knots, since they each have two small Seifert surgeries, we can use our techniques to show that the character variety consists of two or three curves and that there are only five non-trivial finite surgeries. That is, the $`(2,3,7)`$ pretzel has three non-trivial finite surgeries, the $`(2,3,9)`$ has two non-trivial finite surgeries and the remaining hyperbolic $`(2,3,n)`$ pretzel knots admit no non-trivial finite or cyclic surgeries.

To illustrate our methods, we will look at the $`(3,3,4)`$ pretzel knot which has a small Seifert surgery of slope 1. Our intention is to give an overview of the main ideas of our approach. For a more careful account we refer the reader to \[BMZ, M1, M2\].

## The character variety and Culler-Shalen seminorms

Our main tool is the Culler-Shalen seminorm which we now briefly describe. A more detailed exposition can be found in \[CGLS, Chapter 1\] or \[BZ2\].

Let $`R=\text{Hom}(\pi ,\text{SL}_2())`$ denote the set of $`\text{SL}_2()`$-representations of the fundamental group $`\pi `$ of $`M=S^3K`$. Then $`R`$ is an affine algebraic set, as is $`X`$, the set of characters of representations in $`R`$. Since $`M`$ is small \[O\], the irreducible components of $`X`$ are curves \[CCGLS, Proposition 2.4\]. Moreover, for each component $`R_i`$ of $`R`$ which contains an irreducible representation, the corresponding curve $`X_i`$ induces a non-zero seminorm $`_i`$ on $`V=H_1(M;)`$ \[BZ2, Propositon 5.7\] via the following construction.

For $`\gamma \pi `$, define the regular function $`I_\gamma :X`$ by $`I_\gamma (\chi _\rho )=\chi _\rho (\gamma )=\text{trace}(\rho (\gamma ))`$. By the Hurewicz isomorphism, a class $`\gamma L=H_1(M;)`$ determines an element of $`\pi _1(M)`$, and therefore an element of $`\pi `$ well-defined up to conjugacy. The function $`f_\gamma =I_\gamma ^24`$ is again regular and so can be pulled back to $`\stackrel{~}{X}_i`$, the smooth projective variety birationally equivalent to $`X_i`$. For $`\gamma L`$, $`\gamma _i`$ is the degree of $`f_\gamma :\stackrel{~}{X}_i^1.`$ The seminorm is extended to $`V`$ by linearity. We will call a seminorm constructed in this manner a Culler-Shalen seminorm.

If no $`f_\gamma `$ is constant on $`X_i`$, then $`_i`$ is in fact a norm and we shall refer to $`X_i`$ as a norm curve. If $`X_i`$ is not a norm curve, then there is a boundary slope $`r`$ such that $`f_r`$ is constant on $`X_i`$. In this case, we will call $`X_i`$ an $`r`$-curve. The minimal norm $`s_i=\mathrm{min}\{\gamma _i;\gamma L,\gamma _i>0\}`$ is an even integer, as is $`S=_is_i`$, the sum being taken over the curves $`X_iX`$.

Our goal is to show that the character variety of the $`(3,3,4)`$ pretzel knot has one norm curve and one $`r`$-curve with $`r=0`$. As the reducible characters also form a curve, this means $`X`$ consists of exactly three algebraic curves. We will present the argument by discussing how each of the three inputs mentioned in the introduction come into play.

## The two-fold branched cyclic cover

As the $`(3,3,4)`$ pretzel knot is a Montesinos knot, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ is a Seifert fibred space. The base orbifold $``$ of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ is $`S^2`$ with cone points of order $`3,3`$ and $`4`$. We can use this information to determine $`S`$. Essentially, the argument relies on the strong connections between the various fundamental groups. To wit, let $`\stackrel{~}{\pi }`$ be the index two subgroup of $`\pi `$ corresponding to the two-fold cyclic cover. Then $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_2)=\stackrel{~}{\pi }/`$ $`<\mu ^2>`$ where $`\mu `$ is the class of a meridian of $`K`$. Also, $`\pi _1^{\text{orb}}()=\mathrm{\Delta }(3,3,4)=`$ $`<a,b|a^3,b^3,(ab)^4>`$ is a triangle group and isomorphic to $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_2)/Z(\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_2))`$, where $`Z()`$ denotes the center.

Now, by \[CGLS, Corollary 1.1.4\], $`\mu _i=s_i`$ for each curve $`X_iX`$. So

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \mu _i}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 2\mu _i}\mu `$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle Z_x(f_{\mu ^2})}Z_x(f_\mu ),`$
where $`Z_x()`$ denotes the degree of zero of the function at the point $`xX`$. To evaluate the sum, we are led to look at zeroes of $`f_{\mu ^2}`$ which are not zeroes of $`f_\mu `$. If $`0=f_{\mu ^2}=I_{\mu ^2}4`$, then $`\text{trace}(\rho (\mu ^2))=\pm 2`$. In other words, the representations which kill $`\mu ^2`$, and therefore factor through $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_2)`$, will all contribute to the sum.

The abelian $`\text{SL}_2()`$-representations of $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_2)`$ lift to (binary) dihedral representations of $`\pi `$. The number of $`\text{SL}_2()`$-characters of these dihedral representations may be related to the Alexander polynomial $`\mathrm{\Delta }_K(t)`$ \[K, Theorem 10\] and there are ($`(|\mathrm{\Delta }_K(1)|1)/2=`$) 4 such $`\text{SL}_2()`$ characters.

On the other hand, non-abelian representations will factor through the center of $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_2)`$ to become representations of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(3,3,4)`$. In general, the number of $`\text{PSL}_2()`$-characters of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(p,q,r)`$ is (see \[BB, Proposition 3.2\])

(1) $`(p{\displaystyle \frac{p}{2}}1)(q{\displaystyle \frac{q}{2}}1)(r{\displaystyle \frac{r}{2}}1)+{\displaystyle \frac{p}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{q}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{2}}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{gcd}(p,q)}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{gcd}(p,r)}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{gcd}(q,r)}{2}}+1`$
where $`x`$ denotes the largest integer less than or equal to $`x`$. This count includes the reducible characters. As the character of a reducible representation is also the character of an abelian representation, we see that the reducible characters correspond to representations of $`H_1(\mathrm{\Delta }(p,q,r))=/a/(b/a)`$ where $`a=\mathrm{gcd}(p,q,r)`$ and $`b=\mathrm{gcd}(pq,pr,qr)`$. So the number of reducible $`\text{PSL}_2()`$-characters of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(p,q,r)`$ is

(2)
$$\begin{array}{cc}\frac{b}{2}+1,& \text{if }a1(mod2)\hfill \\ \frac{b}{2}+2,& \text{if }a0(mod2).\hfill \end{array}$$

In particular, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(3,3,4)`$ admits $`3`$ irreducible $`\text{PSL}_2()`$ characters and therefore $`6`$ irreducible $`\text{SL}_2()`$ characters \[BZ1, Lemma 5.5\].

By \[BB, Theorem A\], each of the dihedral and triangle group characters contributes two to $`S`$ so that $`S=2(6+4)=20`$.

## Boundary slopes

According to \[HO\], the boundary slopes of $`K`$ are $`14`$, $`0`$ and $`8/5`$. A small rearrangement of \[BZ1, Lemma 6.2\] shows that

(3)
$$\gamma _i=2\underset{j}{}a_j^i\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,\beta _j)$$

the sum being taken over the boundary slopes $`\beta _j`$. Here, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,\beta )`$ denotes the minimal geometric intersection of curves representing $`\gamma `$ and $`\beta `$ in $`\pi _1(M)`$. In particular, using standard meridian-longitude coordinates, we can denote $`\gamma `$ (respectively $`\beta `$) as $`a/b`$ ($`c/d`$) $`\{1/0\}`$. Then $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,\beta )=|adbc|`$.

Thus, given a list of boundary slopes, finding the Culler-Shalen seminorm comes down to solving a system of equations for the non-negative integers $`a_j^i`$. To fix the ordering in what follows, let $`\beta _1=14`$, $`\beta _2=0`$ and $`\beta _3=8/5`$.

## Cyclic, finite, or small Seifert fillings

In order to solve Equation 3, we will need to know about at least one non-trivial cyclic, finite, or small Seifert filling $`\alpha `$, as $`\alpha _i`$ may then be related to $`s_i`$.

* If $`\alpha `$ is a cyclic surgery, then $`\alpha _i=s_i`$ \[CGLS, Corollary 1.1.4\].
* If $`\alpha `$ is a finite surgery, then $`\alpha _i\mathrm{max}(2s_i,s_i+8)`$ \[BZ1, Theorem 2.3\].
* If $`\alpha `$ is small Seifert then $`M(\alpha )`$, the filling along $`\alpha `$, is Seifert fibred. The base orbifold will be $`S^2`$ with cone points of order $`p,q`$ and $`r`$. In this case, $`\alpha _is_i+C_{p,q,r}`$ where $`C_{p.q.r}`$ is a constant depending on $`p,q`$ and $`r`$ (an example of this type follows).

For the $`(3,3,4)`$ pretzel knot, $`1`$ filling is Seifert fibred with base orbifold $`S^2(2,5,7)`$. Then the $`6`$ irreducible $`\text{PSL}_2()`$-characters of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(2,5,7)`$ (see Equations 1 and 2) become $`12`$ $`\text{SL}_2()`$-characters \[BZ1, Lemma 5.5\] each contributing $`2`$ to $`1_i`$ \[BB, Theorem A\]. Thus $`1_i=S+24`$ (summing over the curves $`X_iX`$). Consequently, $`s_i1_is_i+24`$. Of course $`\mu _i=s_i`$ since $`M(\mu )=S^3`$ is a cyclic filling.

So we have the equations

(4) $`\mu =2(a_1+a_2+5a_3)`$ $`=`$ $`s20;\text{ and}`$
(5) $`s1=2(15a_1+a_2+3a_3)`$ $``$ $`s+24`$
(where we’ve suppressed the ‘$`i`$’ sub- and superscripts). Subtracting, we find

(6)
$$07a_1a_36.$$

Let us first investigate the case where $``$ is a norm curve. In order to have a norm (rather than just a seminorm), at least two of the $`a_j`$ must be non-zero. Equation 4 shows that $`a_31`$ on a norm curve. On the other hand, from Equation 6 we see that $`a_3=0`$ implies $`a_1=0`$ which would not be possible for a norm curve. Therefore $`a_3=1`$. Then Equation 6 implies $`a_1=1`$. Finally, Equation 4 allows us to bound $`a_2`$: $`0a_24`$. In particular, on a norm curve, we have $`1=s+24`$. This means there can be at most one norm curve. (If there were two or more, $`_i1_iS+2(24)`$ contradicting an earlier equation.) On the other hand, the component $`X_0`$ of the character variety containing the character corresponding to the holonomy representation is a norm curve \[CGLS, Chapter 1\]. Let $`_0`$ denote the norm on $`X_0`$.

Since $`_i1_i=S+24`$, we see that $`1_i=s_i`$ for any $`r`$-curves. On the other hand, on an $`r`$-curve $`X_i`$, $`1_i=s_i\mathrm{\Delta }(1,r)`$ and $`r`$ is a boundary slope \[BZ2, Proposition 5.4\]. So the only candidate is $`r=0`$.

Now $`M(0)=M_1M_2`$, with $`M_1`$ Seifert fibred over $`D^2(2,2)`$ and $`M_2`$ Seifert over $`D^2(3,3)`$, is a graph manifold and its $`\text{PSL}_2()`$ representations will factor through $`/2/3`$. Since the $`\text{PSL}_2()`$-character variety $`\overline{X}(/2/3)`$ contains exactly one curve \[BZ2, Example 3.2\], the same is true of $`\overline{X}(M(0))`$ and we conclude that there is a unique $`r`$-curve $`X_1`$ with $`r=0`$. Moreover the minimal norm is $`s_1=2`$. (For a more detailed account of this argument, see the discussion of the $`M(2n+6)`$ filling of the $`(2,3,n)`$ pretzel knot in \[M1, M2\].)

Thus $`X`$ contains one norm curve $`X_0`$ and one $`r`$-curve $`X_1`$. The Culler-Shalen seminorm on $`X_1`$ is $`\gamma _1=2\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,0)`$ while that of $`X_0`$ is

$$\gamma _0=2[\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,14)+3\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,0)+\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,8/5)]$$

(i.e. we choose $`a_2^0=3`$ so that $`\mu _0+\mu _1=S=20`$). The polygon $`B`$ of radius $`s_0=18`$ in $`_0`$ is illustrated in Figure 2.

Notice that $`B`$ lies below the line $`y=1/2`$. Since any finite or cyclic surgeries would have norm at most $`\mathrm{max}(2s_0,s_0+8)`$ \[BZ1, Theorem 2.3\], we see that $`K`$ admits no other cyclic or finite surgeries beyond trivial surgery along the meridian $`\mu =1/0`$. (Delman \[D\] has already shown that this knot has no non-trivial finite surgeries using completely different methods.) The Newton polygon of the $`A`$ polynomial is dual to $`B`$ \[BZ3\] and is illustrated in Figure 3.

### $`(3,3,n)`$ pretzel knots

We now generalize to the $`(3,3,n)`$ pretzel knot which we will denote by $`K_n`$. Note that $`K_n`$ is the mirror reflection of $`K_n`$, so we can assume $`n0`$. This family includes some knots we have investigated elsewhere: $`K_1`$ is a twist knot \[BMZ\] and $`K_2`$ is the reflection of the $`(2,3,3)`$ pretzel knot \[M1\]. Since $`K_0`$ is not prime, it’s not hyperbolic and therefore not amenable to the techniques we have been discussing. On the other hand, when $`3n6`$, $`K_n`$ is hyperbolic. Moreover these knots have a Seifert surgery at slope $`r=1`$. (We have verified this for $`n=3,4,6`$ using the Montesinos trick. For $`n=5`$ we have only the evidence of SNAPPEA \[Wk\].) So for these knots we have the required inputs in order to apply our machinery and work out the Culler-Shalen seminorms.

But what of $`n7`$? Why stop at $`n=6`$? We are obliged to stop since we have no evidence of $`K_n`$ admitting a Seifert filling for $`n7`$. Indeed, the Seifert surgeries occur according to a very nice pattern. By \[HO\], the boundary slopes of $`K_n`$ are $`(2n+6)`$, $`0`$ and $`8/(n+1)`$. For $`1n6`$, the Seifert surgeries lie between the boundary slopes $`0`$ and $`8/(n+1)`$ as the following table illustrates.

| $`n`$ | $`1`$ | $`2`$ | $`3`$ | $`4`$ | $`5`$ | $`6`$ | $`7`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`8/(n+1)`$ | $`4`$ | $`8/3`$ | $`2`$ | $`8/5`$ | $`4/3`$ | $`8/7`$ | $`1`$ |
| Seifert |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Surgeries | $`1,2,3`$ | $`1,2`$ | $`1`$ | $`1`$ | $`1`$ | $`1`$ | none |

As the boundary slope $`8/(n+1)`$ moves across the integers toward $`0`$, those integers cease to be available for Seifert surgeries. For example, when $`n7`$, the boundary slope is $`1`$ and there are no more Seifert surgeries. I should emphasize that this is based on experimental evidence. These knots may admit other Seifert surgeries beyond those I’ve listed in the table. In addition, although I (or others) have shown that all the other surgeries in the table are Seifert, the only evidence I have in the $`n=5`$ case comes from SNAPPEA \[Wk\]. Nonetheless, it is a curious pattern and it would be nice to understand this phenomenon.

Thus we can only hope to apply our machinery to $`K_n`$ when $`1n6`$. The first two cases are treated elsewhere and $`n=4`$ was discussed in detail above. For $`K_3`$ our method breaks down as the equations corresponding to Equations 4, 5 and 6 above don’t result in a unique solution for the $`a_j^i`$’s. Since $`K_5`$ is not strongly invertible, we can not use the Montesinos trick to work out the indices for the Seifert surgery of slope $`1`$. Without that information, we can not complete the analysis of that knot.

However, $`K_6`$ is tractable. For this knot we have the same conclusions as for $`K_4`$: there’s one norm curve with $`s_0=22`$ and

$$\gamma _0=2[\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,18)+3\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,0)+\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma ,8/7)],$$

and one $`r`$-curve with $`r=0`$ and $`s_1=2`$. This means that $`K_6`$ also admits no non-trivial cyclic or finite surgeries. (Again, Delman \[D\] had shown this previously using different methods.)

## Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Steve Boyer for many useful conversations and in particular for suggesting that other pretzel knots might have Seifert fillings. I thank Professor Sakuma and the other organizers for putting together a very nice workshop and for giving me the opportunity to talk about my research.


text:
# Galactosynthesis Predictions at High Redshift

## 1 Introduction

With the advent of numerous 10m-class telescopes, adaptive optics, and high-$`z`$ galaxy surveys, it is becoming possible to learn about the detailed properties of galaxies at high $`z`$. In the future, we may expect improved IR sensitivity with NGST and 30m or even 100m telescopes, and this should usher in an era of high-precision kinematic and photometric studies of high-$`z`$ galaxies. Disk galaxies are particularly important to our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, as they are believed to undergo a relatively smooth formation process, and possibly serve as building blocks in the formation of other galactic systems through mergers.

Many authors have investigated galactosynthesis models (e.g., ????????) in which the properties of disk galaxies are determined primarily by the mass, size, and angular momenta of the halos in which they form, and which may contain the effects of supernova feedback, adiabatic disk contraction, cooling, merging, and a variety of star-formation (SF) recipes. In an earlier paper, we (?; hereafter BJK), investigated a variety of galactosynthesis models with realistic stellar populations and made multi-wavelength predictions for the Tully-Fisher (TF) relation. With reasonable values for various cosmological parameters, spin ($`\lambda `$) distributions, formation-redshift ($`z_f`$) distributions, and no supernova feedback, we could produce an excellent fit to the local TF relation at all investigated wavelengths ($`B`$, $`R`$, $`I`$, and $`K`$), as well as to $`B`$-band TF data at $`z=1`$, and to the surface-brightness–magnitude ($`\mu `$-$`M`$) relation locally and at $`z=0.4`$. These successes suggest that our simplified approach captures the essential phenomenology, even if it leaves out some of the details of more sophisticated models.

In this paper, we investigate the high-$`z`$ TF predictions for our model. We examine the key factors impacting the TF relation at high $`z`$, and demonstrate that degeneracies among parameters in galactosynthesis models at $`z=0`$ can be disentangled at high $`z`$. Specifically, information about the $`z_f`$ and $`\lambda `$ distributions, as well as the SF history and baryon fraction in the disk, can be gleaned from the high-$`z`$ TF relation.

## 2 The Models

Here, we briefly review the main ingredients of our model and refer the interested reader to BJK for a comprehensive description. We use the spherical-collapse model for halos, the distribution of halo-formation times from the merger-tree formalism (??), and a joint distribution in $`\lambda `$ and $`\nu `$, the peak height (??). Halos are treated as isothermal spheres with a fixed baryon fraction and specific angular momentum, and their embedded gaseous disks, assumed to form at virialization, have an exponential density profile. We implicitly assume that the halos of spiral galaxies form smoothly, rather than from major mergers (BJK; ?). An empirical Schmidt law relates the star-formation rate (SFR) to the disk surface density (?). A Salpeter initial mass function, a prescription for chemical evolution, and a synthetic stellar-population code (?) provide the photometric properties of disks at any $`z`$.

The model is defined by cosmological parameters and by the time when the most massive progenitor contains a fraction $`f`$ of the present-day mass, when a halo is defined to form. We found that excellent agreement with current data was obtained by our ’Model A’, a COBE-normalized $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmogony ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=0.3`$, $`h=0.65`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.019`$) with $`f=0.5`$. The TF relation in this model relied on both halo properties and SF in the disk. The local TF scatter arose primarily from the $`z_f`$ distribution, and secondarily from chemical evolution and the $`\nu `$-$`\lambda `$ anticorrelation. In this model, disk formation occurs primarily at $`0.5\text{ }<\text{ }z\text{ }<\text{ }2`$ and the TF slope steepens and the zero points get fainter from $`z=0`$ to $`z=1`$. Moreover, the amount of gas expelled from or poured into a disk galaxy in this model is relatively small and the disk and halo specific angular momenta are equal.

A suite of other models that give good fits to the observations at low $`z`$, can also be found. To illustrate, we examine two alternatives that yield comparably good fits to the slope, zero-point, and scatter of the TF relation at $`z=0`$ in $`B`$, $`R`$, $`I`$, and $`K`$. The first is a CDM model with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=1`$, $`h=0.65`$, constant metallicity given by the solar value, $`\lambda =0.05`$ for all disks, a power-spectrum amplitude $`\sigma _8=0.5`$, an empirical shape parameter $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.2`$, and $`f=0.5`$. High-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ models generally produce disk galaxies too faint to lie on the local TF relation. To compensate for this, we assume $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.045`$, and thus term this the ’high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$’ model.

Our second alternative is a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmogony like Model A, but with metallicity held constant at the solar value, $`\lambda =0.05`$ for all disks, and $`f=0.9`$. This results in a narrow distribution of formation times peaked around $`z0.2`$ (for $`L_{}`$-type disks), with appreciable ongoing formation today and almost no halos forming earlier than $`z=1`$ (cf., Figure 1 of BJK). We thus denote this the ’low-$`z_f`$’ model. This model will produce extremely young and bright disks (cf., Figure 5 of BJK)111We note that bulges, however, may be present at high $`z`$.. To compensate for this, we reduce the efficiency of SF in our Schmidt-law prescription by 50% \[see equations (2)–(4) in BJK\]. This lower SF efficiency is plausible given a possible inconsistency between the Model-A predictions for the absolute disk gas fractions and those observed (see BJK for details).

Figure 1 depicts the $`z=0`$ predictions for the A, high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$, and low-$`z_f`$ models, in the $`B`$, $`R`$, $`I`$, and $`K`$ bands. The open symbols represent extinction-corrected data from ?. In each plot, the data are fit to the corresponding model, and $`p`$ gives the probability for the data given the model. Since the data have excluded spirals that show evidence of merger activity or disruption, we exclude from our predictions those galaxies with $`BR<0.3`$.

Each of the three models yields a reasonable fit to the slope and normalization of the TF relation in all wavebands. Moreover, the predicted scatter in the $`B`$, $`R`$, $`I`$, and $`K`$ bands roughly agrees with the observed values of 0.50, 0.41, 0.40, and 0.41, respectively, with the largest discrepancies occurring in the bluer bands, for reasons discussed in BJK.

## 3 The TF Relation at High $`Z`$

### 3.1 TF Scatter for a Fixed Mass

Figure 2 shows predictions for our A and high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ models at $`z=3`$. At this $`z`$, the low-$`z_f`$ model fails to form disks. In the left-hand panels, the points for a given mass scatter in a nearly vertical direction in contrast to the more horizontal scatter in the $`z=0`$ results (see BJK Figure 13), particularly in redder bands. For $`z=0`$, the TF scatter arises primarily from the spread in $`z_f`$, with the earliest-forming objects of a fixed mass having higher circular velocities. This is because for an evolved galaxy that has converted most of its gas to stars, the light from giants serves as a faithful tracer of the total mass, regardless of the precise age of the galaxy. As one goes either to higher masses in a given waveband, or to bluer bands at a fixed mass, the scatter in the local TF relation for a fixed mass does begin to curve upward (i.e., later-forming disks appear brighter) to form a ’magnitude peak,’ since in both cases one becomes increasingly biased towards younger, brighter systems.

At $`z=3`$, the scatter still owes mainly to the spread in $`z_f`$, and Figure 2 still indicates that at $`z=3`$, the very earliest-forming objects do possess somewhat higher circular velocities for a given mass. (Note in the left panels the ’peak’ of points formed at the high-$`V_c`$ end of the four scatter plots for the different masses.) The galaxies that populate the TF relation at $`z\text{ }>\text{ }3`$, however, are the small minority that constitute the exponentially decaying high-$`z`$ tail of the adopted $`z_f`$ distribution (BJK Figure 1). Thus, the formation of these halos spans a very short epoch, so that halos of a given mass will have roughly the same $`V_c`$, resulting in the tight horizontal scatter for each mass. The large vertical scatter arises from the fact that, though these galaxies will eventually form the lower envelope of the present-day TF relation, comprising the oldest and (in bluer bands) faintest objects of a given mass, at $`z=3`$ even the least massive of these galaxies are typically no older than a few hundred million years, and the more massive systems younger still. Thus, systems on the ’young’ side of the $`M`$ peak have formed so close to the epoch of observation that they simply have not had sufficient time to build up appreciable stellar populations; given their high gas fractions and SFRs, even a small increase in their age results in a substantial increase in their stellar luminosity.

At high $`z`$, disks with circular velocities 200–500 km s-1 (masses $`10^{13}`$ $`_{}`$) correspond to rare fluctuations. Still, at these $`z`$, one does expect to find several such objects within the horizon in a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmogony, and since these will be the brightest objects in the sample, we include them in the discussion here. We also reiterate that the disks that form at $`z\text{ }>\text{ }3`$ are not the dominant population of disks at $`z=0`$, as most disks at $`z=0`$ probably formed at $`0.5\text{ }<\text{ }z\text{ }<\text{ }2`$ (see, e.g., BJK). Disks forming at higher $`z`$ will delineate the lower envelope of the TF relation at $`z=0`$; for a given mass, these older, higher-$`V_c`$ systems will be fainter since they will be the first to run out of fuel.

#### 3.1.1 Overall TF Relation

The trend of steeper TF slopes and fainter zero-points in going from $`z=0`$ to $`z=1`$ is seen to continue here out to $`z=3`$. Specifically, in the $`B`$ band, the $`z=3`$ TF relation goes from $`2`$ mag brighter than its local counterpart at $`\mathrm{log}2V_c=3`$ to less than 1 mag brighter at $`\mathrm{log}2V_c=1.7`$. In $`K`$, the high-$`z`$ prediction is about 1 mag fainter at $`\mathrm{log}2V_c=1.7`$ and comparable to the local prediction at $`\mathrm{log}2V_c=3.0`$. This is because for fixed $`V_c`$, halos at high $`z`$ will be younger, smaller, and have lower $`\lambda `$ than halos today. In massive systems most of the SF activity takes place at early times. Thus, younger systems will be significantly brighter, particularly in bluer bands, even though much of their gas remains unprocessed. Smaller, low-$`V_c`$ systems, on the other hand, do not convert gas to stars as rapidly and are thus fainter than their local counterparts.

The overall A-model $`B`$-band scatter in the high-$`z`$ TF relation is comparable to that at $`z=0`$. In $`K`$, however, the scatter at $`z=3`$ has increased by a factor of two. Moreover, the variation in the TF scatter among different wavebands is not as great at high $`z`$ as was seen in the local case. This is because (a) disks at $`z>3`$ are likely to be in a starburst-dominated phase since there is very little cosmological time for even single stellar populations to decay; (b) at such early times the spread in mass of gas turned into stars is very large for different $`z_f`$ and $`\lambda `$ \[see eq. (7) of ?\]. Therefore, it seems natural that all bands reflect the maximum possible spread. By contrast, there is little change in TF scatter from $`z=0`$ to $`z=1`$, as the majority of galaxies are sufficiently evolved by $`z=1`$ (Figures 13 and 14 in BJK). Furthermore, the scatter obtained here should be considered as an upper limit since, in practice, $`M`$-limited surveys may not detect arbitrarily young, and therefore faint, objects, particularly at lower masses.222Our models employ a minimum time step of $`10^7`$ yr—corresponding to the timescale for giant-molecular cloud destruction (e.g., ?)—that effectively dictates the faintest objects at a given mass, and therefore the maximum possible scatter. However, different realizations of a given model can generally produce results that vary by $`\text{ }<\text{ }0.1`$ mag in the TF scatter. Given the simplifying assumptions of the model, attention should be paid to the overall magnitudes of and relative differences between the slopes, normalizations, and scatters, rather than their precise values.

#### 3.1.2 Spin–Peak-Height ($`\nu `$-$`\lambda `$) Anticorrelation

In BJK, we also noted the slight reduction in TF scatter at $`z=0`$ in Model A arising from the existence of a weak anticorrelation of $`\lambda `$ with $`\nu `$, and thus with $`z_f`$. This reduction in TF scatter was only about 0.15 mag in $`B`$ and $`0.05`$ mag in $`K`$ for Model A, and lesser or no effect was seen in some other possibly viable models. To investigate the effect of the joint $`\lambda `$-$`\nu `$ distribution, we re-ran the models in Figure 2 with $`\lambda =0.05`$ for all halos. This produces TF predictions with shallower slopes and brighter zero-points. This is due to the fact that the $`\lambda =0.05`$ value is higher (lower) than the full model would typically assign to high-mass (lower-mass) galaxies, which thus become correspondingly fainter (brighter) in the fixed-$`\lambda `$ model. More interestingly, using a fixed $`\lambda `$ at high $`z`$ reduced the overall TF scatter by about 0.2 mag in all bands at $`z=3`$, as compared with using the joint distribution in $`\lambda `$ and $`z_f`$. This is in direct contrast to the $`z=0`$ case, where a fixed $`\lambda `$ produced a comparable or larger scatter, as described above. This is due to the vertical nature of the scatter in the TF for a fixed mass at high $`z`$. In this case, higher-$`\lambda `$ systems are still fainter, but their lower $`z_f`$ (already confined to only a narrow range) can only further scatter them to lower luminosities, not to lower $`V_c`$ as is in the local case, thereby increasing the scatter. This suggests that the scatter in the TF relation at high $`z`$ could be used to gauge the strength of the actual $`\lambda `$-$`z_f`$ anticorrelation.

### 3.2 The Surface-Brightness–Magnitude Relation

Figure 3 shows the surface-brightness–magnitude relation at $`z=0.4`$ and $`z=3`$ for the A and high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ models, The dots are from 2dF (?), and the open triangles from the HDF (?); the latter have $`z0.4`$. Since our model does not include a bulge component, the predicted $`\mu `$ may underestimate observed values if the disk and bulge components cannot be resolved.

For Model A, the slope of the relation at $`z=3`$ is slightly shallower than the local relation, with $`\mu `$ nearly identical to the low-$`z`$ case for $`M_B5\mathrm{log}h>16`$ and fainter by about 1 mag for $`M_B5\mathrm{log}h=24`$. Thus, at these scales, the trend towards higher luminosities and smaller disk scale lengths is offset by cosmological $`\mu `$ dimming. A more drastic contrast is seen in the high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ model, where the predicted $`\mu `$ at the bright end varies by almost 4 magnitudes. This owes largely to substantial brightening that occurs at late times as the high baryon fraction is converted into starlight.

For both models, we find that the scatter at $`z3`$ is much tighter than for the local case because the spread in the radii of disks at $`z>3`$ is smaller than at low $`z`$. For example, at $`z0`$, disk sizes span a range roughly between 1 and 100 kpc, while at $`z3`$ they range only from about 0.5 to 15 kpc in size. On the other hand, the respective spreads in $`M`$ differ by no more than a factor of two. The small spread in the relation then reflects the small spread in disk sizes predicted in our adopted structure-formation scenario. Thus, it will be interesting to learn whether this narrow spread is in fact observed at high $`z`$. If a much wider spread is observed, this might indicate that either disks at $`z>3`$ are more substantially affected by merger activity or that they are simply larger; i.e., the spread in sizes predicted by our simple isothermal spherical-collapse model with angular-momentum conservation is simply too narrow. Note that the $`\mu `$ predictions in general are more sensitive to assumptions regarding $`\lambda `$ than are TF predictions, thus providing a strong complementary constraint on this aspect of the model.

### 3.3 Addressing Possible Degeneracies

We now address how high-$`z`$ predictions can be used to distinguish among galactosynthesis models that are degenerate at $`z=0`$. The right panels of Figure 2 show TF predictions for the high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ model. At these mass scales, the low-$`z_f`$ model predicts essentially no disks (and thus no TF relation) to be present at $`z=3`$, certainly a drastically different prediction than that of the other models, despite their close agreement at $`z=0`$.

The precise slopes and zero-points for the A and high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ models differ more appreciably than in the $`z=0`$ case, with the latter model yielding predictions that are significantly fainter at these scales. This owes both to the different normalizations of the fluctuation spectrum in the two models, and to the fact that the lower SF efficiency in the high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ model results in fainter disks at early times. More importantly, the predicted TF scatter in the high-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ model is substantially less than that of the A model. This is because (a) a higher value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ implies a narrower age range for disks forming at $`z3`$; and (b) the scatter due to a spread in $`\lambda `$ is excluded in this model.

Alternatively, one could envision a high-$`z_f`$ model in which disks were somehow brightened at later times, perhaps through late infall of fresh gas. In this case, there might be galaxies that are reasonably evolved, even at these high $`z`$, so that many galaxies would be found on the old side of the $`M`$ peak. Thus, the TF scatter for a fixed mass for such objects would more closely resemble that of Figure 1, rather than the more vertically-oriented scatter of Figure 2, and presumably also lead to a smaller overall TF scatter. The differences among the high-$`z`$ predictions explored here for the TF relation and its scatter amount to about 1–2 mag, and 0.2–0.4 mag, respectively, so these models should be distinguishable with high significance given data of the type in Figure 1. The model predictions for the $`\mu `$-$`M`$ relation can also be used to address the degeneracy. In Figure 3, we see that, owing to the large scatter, the two models are difficult to distinguish on the basis of low-$`z`$ predictions, but the tightness of the predicted relation at higher $`z`$, if in fact observed, would make this test a much more powerful discriminator.

## 4 Discussion

We have presented high-$`z`$ predictions for the TF relation, which may help to discriminate among different scenarios for galaxy formation. The evolution of the spread in the TF relation can probe the spread in halo $`z_f`$, as well as SF processes in the disk. Specifically, for observations of evolved systems at redder wavelengths, the scatter essentially decouples from the luminosity axis, while observations at high $`z`$ and/or in bluer bands are more sensitive to the disk’s age, resulting in a scatter that couples more closely to the luminosity axis of the TF relation. The predicted $`\mu `$ for a given $`M`$ are fainter and tighter at high $`z`$ than at low $`z`$.

Our models assume that galaxies in the high-$`z`$ universe are those in the high-$`z_f`$ tail of the present-day distribution. The circular speeds we predict are those for the disk, and so far it has proven difficult to extract these reliably from general SF population at $`z=1`$. Recent data seem to suggest that beyond the local universe, “normal” galaxies actively form stars primarily in their small cores (see, e.g., ??). Linewidth measurements of SF galaxies at $`z=1`$ and $`z=3`$ are found to effectively sample only the core dispersion, yielding typical values of roughly 80 km s-1 with a scatter of about 20–30 km s-1 over a range of several magnitudes. Unless improved measurements can succeed in sampling the disk at larger radii (or at some other means of tracing the potential), a proper TF relation may not be easily defined.

Progress might be made by focusing on the lower, red envelope of the TF relation, rather than attempting to fill in the TF plane. The locus of the oldest and reddest points in the TF plane generally lie themselves on a well-defined line that serves as the high-$`z_f`$ envelope to the relation. Samples of these old, red objects might be easier to construct than complete TF samples, which include young, starbursting objects that may have arbitrarily low luminosities falling off on the younger side of the $`M`$ peak. SIRTF and NGST will have the sensitivity to detect some of the reddest objects in the sky, even out to high $`z`$. If so, a comparison of the red envelope formed by these old objects with predictions, could suffice to constrain many of the key aspects of galactosynthesis models without needing to populate the entire TF plane. Of course, the effects of dust will need to be taken into account to so that young, dusty systems are distinguished from old galaxies.

We wish to acknowledge C. C. Steidel and K. A. Adelberger for helpful discussions. This work was supported by grants NSF-AST-0096023, NSF-AST-9900866, NSF-AST-9618537, NASA NAG5-8506, and DoE DE-FG03-92-ER40701.


text:
# UVES observations of a damped Ly𝛼 system at 𝑧_abs=4.466 towards the quasar APM BR J0307-4945Based on public data released from UVES Commissioning at the VLT/Kueyen telescope, ESO, Paranal, Chile.

## 1 Introduction

For two decades now bright quasars (hereafter QSOs) have been used to investigate the distribution and physical properties of gas in their lines of sight up to their emission redshift. The information is extracted from the study of absorption lines originating in the gas (the Hydrogen Lyman series lines and resonance lines of various metal ions) as detected in the high dispersion ($`10000<R<50000`$) spectra of the QSOs.

A special class of absorption systems is represented by the damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems. DLA systems are defined as absorption systems with a H i column density $`210^{20}`$ cm-2 which gives origin to the characteristic damped profile in the Ly$`\alpha `$ absorption. There is no general consensus on the nature of the galaxies associated with the DLA systems. The identification of all DLA systems with progenitors of present-day spirals as proposed originally by Wolfe et al. (1986) is not fully supported by the observations of optical counterparts at low redshifts which show a variety of morphological types (e.g. Le Brun et al. 1997) and by the relative metal abundances.

Whatever their nature, DLA systems appear to be associated with the bulk of neutral hydrogen in the universe at high redshift (Wolfe et al. 1995, Lanzetta et al. 1995, Storrie-Lombardi et al. 1996) and remain a unique way to trace accurately chemical abundances over a wide interval of redshifts, from 0.5 to 4.5, setting important constraints on theories of galaxy formation and evolution.

In the last decade, this type of research has especially benefitted from the use of the HIRES spectrograph at the Keck telescope. HIRES observations have produced a large number of accurate abundance measurements in DLA systems (Lu et al. 1996,1997, Prochaska & Wolfe 1999) which together with more complete DLA surveys (Rao & Turnshek 2000, Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe 2000) have been used to explore both the redshift evolution of comoving mass density and of the metal content (see for a recent review Pettini 2000). It is unclear whether any of these quantities is significantly evolving from the early universe ($`10`$% of the present age) to the present epoch, in contradiction with the simple picture describing a progressive conversion of gas into stars and an increase in the mean metallicity. Indeed, DLA systems at all redshifts might simply represent galaxies “caught in the act” of assembling a large amount of gas before a major episode of star formation.

Whatever the favorite interpretation, it is clear that the sample of DLA systems with high-quality spectroscopic data (now summing up to about 70 objects) has to be substantially enlarged, to increase the statistical weight of the results at all redshifts and in particular at the low and very high redshift ends. The number of well studied systems at high redshifts is particularly low. The recent overview of abundance determinations by Prochaska & Wolfe (2000) includes 13 objects at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}3`$ and 5 objects at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}4`$ only.

In October 1999, ESO installed at the second 8.2m VLT telescope (Kueyen) its high-resolution spectrograph, UVES, which compares well in efficiency and resolution with HIRES (D’Odorico et al. 2000). Taking advantage of its superior near-infrared efficiency, UVES has already been used to secure the first Zn abundance in a DLA system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}>3`$ so far (Molaro et al. 2000).

In this paper we report UVES observations of the highest redshift ($`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$) DLA system known to the present date. The quality of the data is such that a detailed analysis of the metal content of the absorbing gas has been possible and from this the evolutionary history of the associated galaxy has been reconstructed. While the statistical weight of the results on a single DLA system is obviously limited, with this study we demonstrate the possibility to investigate the star formation history of galaxies well beyond $`z=4`$ from observations of relatively faint QSOs. The observations were obtained during the Commissioning of the instrument. They are part of the public set of UVES Commissioning data available through the ESO VLT archive.

In Sect. 2 we briefly review the observations and data reduction, and we provide a list of all metal systems we have identified in the line of sight to APM BR J0307$``$4945 redwards of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission. We report the column density measurements of different ions of the DLA system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$ in Sect. 3. Sect. 4 discusses the abundances and Sect. 5 the kinematics of the DLA gas. The conclusions are summarized in Sect. 6.

## 2 Data

### 2.1 Observations

APM BR J0307$``$4945 is a newly discovered quasar at $`z_{\mathrm{em}}=4.73`$ (R = 18.8) from the second APM color survey for $`z>4`$ QSOs (Storrie-Lombardi et al. 2001). The damped absorber at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$ was so prominent that it was identifiable in the low resolution (FWHM $`10`$ Å) quasar discovery spectrum. On the basis of medium resolution spectroscopy (FWHM $`5`$ Å) the DLA column density was estimated to be $`\mathrm{log}N`$(H i) $`=20.8`$ (Péroux et al. 2001 and McMahon et al. 2001, in preparation).

The observations of APM BR J0307$``$4945 presented here were obtained during the first and second Commissioning of the Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) on the Nasmyth focus of the VLT 8.2m Kueyen telescope at Paranal, in October and December 1999. A journal of observation dates, wavelength coverages, resolutions and exposure times of the data is presented in Table 1. Seven spectra, covering in total the spectral range from 5000 to 9900 Å, were obtained by using the cross-disperser gratings #3 and #4 of the spectrograph red arm. Details on the instrument can be found in Dekker et al. (2000) and in the UVES User Manual available at http://www.eso.org/instruments/uves/userman/. The full width at half maximum of the instrument profile, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{\text{instr.}}`$, was measured from the emission lines of the Thorium-Argon lamp and the resulting resolving powers, $`\text{R}=\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{\text{instr.}}`$, vary between 38980 and 48020 (median values) depending on the spectra (see Table 1) and correspond to a velocity resolution of 6.2 to 7.7 km s-1 FWHM.

### 2.2 Data reduction

The data reduction was performed on each of the seven spectra separately using the UVES data reduction pipeline implemented in the ESO MIDAS package. The pipeline reduction is based on the following steps: order definition using a special order definition frame (order width $`5`$ pixels); wavelength calibration; order extraction using the “optimal” extraction method (the orders are extracted by calculating a weighted sum of pixel values across the profile of the object); extraction of weighted flat-field; flat-fielding; and sky subtraction. Typical RMS errors in the wavelength calibrations are $`5.5`$ mÅ.

The observed wavelength scale was transformed into vacuum, heliocentric scale. The spectra were normalized by using a spline to smoothly connect the regions free from absorption features. The continuum for the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest region was fitted by using small regions deemed to be free of absorptions and by interpolating between these regions with a spline. Finally, the normalized spectra were added together using their S/N as weights. The final spectrum reaches a signal-to-noise of $`20\text{S/N}40`$.

### 2.3 Absorption line identification

We have proceeded with the absorption-line identification by first trying to find all C iv, Si iv and Mg ii doublets. Once we had composed a list of redshifts for the metal-line systems, we attempted to match the remaining absorption features with the strongest metal-line transitions. Finally, we compared in velocity space the line profiles of individual transitions in the determined systems for conclusive identification. The discrimination of telluric absorption lines from extragalactic absorption has been possible thanks to the spectrum of a standard star covering the spectral ranges from 6120 to 7960 Å and from 8100 to 9900 Å, and the comparison of spectra taken at different epochs.

Table 5111Available in electronic form at http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr lists the wavelengths and equivalent widths for all absorption-line features (except the telluric lines) redwards of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission that exceed the 4$`\sigma `$ limit in equivalent width. The transition names and approximate redshifts are specified for the features we successfully identified. About 80% of the absorption lines redwards of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission have been identified, corresponding to 13 metal-line systems. In this work we will restrict our analysis to the damped Ly$`\alpha `$ system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$.

## 3 Ionic column densities

We present here the measurements of ionic column densities obtained for the damped Ly$`\alpha `$ system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$. They have been derived by fitting theoretical Voigt profiles to the observed absorption lines via a $`\chi ^2`$ minimization. The fits were performed using the FITLYMAN package included in MIDAS (Fontana & Ballester 1995). During the fitting procedure the theoretical profiles were convolved with the instrumental point spread function modeled from the analysis of the emission lines of the arcs. The FITLYMAN routines determine for each absorption component the redshift, the column density, the turbulent broadening parameter $`b`$ and the fit errors for each of these quantities. The atomic data are taken from the compilation of Morton (1991) and from the updated values of Spitzer & Fitzpatrick (1993) for silicon, Cardelli & Savage (1995) for iron and Zsargó & Federman (1998) for nickel, as specified in Table 4.

The velocity profiles and the best fitting solutions of the low-ion transitions (C+, N0, O0, Al+, Si+ and Fe+) associated with the damped Ly$`\alpha `$ system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$ are plotted in Fig. 1. The velocity centroids for the different components of the fit are marked by the short vertical lines. To obtain these fitting solutions, we assumed the same $`b`$-values in the same component of all ions (i.e. that macroturbulent motions dominate over thermal broadening) and the same redshift, and allowed for variations from ion to ion in column density only. We find that a minimum of twelve components was required to fit the low-ion transitions. The stronger components are the components 7, 8 (at $`z=4.466582`$, $`z=4.466844`$) and the components 10, 11 (at $`z=4.467863`$, $`z=4.468005`$). Table 2 lists the redshift, the $`b`$-value and the column density of every velocity component of the fitting solution.

The velocity profiles and the best fitting solutions for the high-ion transitions (C3+ and Si3+ partly blended by the telluric absorption lines), which were obtained independently from the low-ion transitions, are given in Fig. 2 and in Table 3. A total of fourteen components were required to fit the high-ion transitions, with the dominant one lying at $`z=4.465953`$ (component 8).

### 3.1 Hydrogen content

The hydrogen column density was mainly estimated from the fit of the Ly$`\alpha `$ damping profile. The main difficulty of the Ly$`\alpha `$ profile fitting in this DLA system, as is often the case at high redshift, is the strong contamination by Ly$`\alpha `$ forest lines on both wings of the damped Ly$`\alpha `$ line. The Ly$`\beta `$ and Ly$`\gamma `$ lines are heavily blended and thus unusable for a hydrogen column density determination, unlike the Ly$`\delta `$ line.

Fits provided by the Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ly$`\delta `$ lines by taking into account only one of the four stronger components of the low-ion fits (component 7, nearly centered on the Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ly$`\delta `$ profiles), yield a satisfactory result only to the blue side of the Ly$`\alpha `$ profile (the Ly$`\delta `$ blue side profile is contaminated by the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest absorptions). However, they leave an “empty space” on the red side on each of these two line profiles, which can be filled by adding the contribution of the second dominant component, the component 11 (see Fig. 3).

The corresponding hydrogen column densities and $`b`$-values are $`\mathrm{log}N`$(H i) = 20.03, $`b`$ = 20.0 km s-1 for the component 7 at $`z=4.466582`$ and $`\mathrm{log}N`$(H i) = 20.56, $`b`$ = 16.5 km s-1 for the component 11 at $`z=4.468005`$. The $`b`$-value of the component 11 is constrained by the blue side of the Ly$`\delta `$ line. The resulting total hydrogen column density is $`\mathrm{log}N`$(H i) $`=20.67\pm 0.09`$.

The hydrogen column density value determined in the DLA system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$ is consistent with the lack of high neutral hydrogen column density DLA systems towards the highest redshifts (Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe 2000). Indeed, in the sample described in the latter reference, 6 DLA absorbers out of 10 at $`3z_{\mathrm{abs}}3.5`$ have $`\mathrm{log}N`$(H i) $`>21`$, whereas the statistics drops to 1 out of 12 at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}>3.5`$.

### 3.2 Metal abundances

The ionic column densities and the relative metal abundances of C, N, O, Al, Si, S, Fe and Ni measured for this DLA system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$ are summarized in Table 4. We give the total ionic column densities obtained by adding up all the components derived from the fits and their corresponding errors. The errors reflect the data quality and the errors on the $`b`$-values. The relative metal abundances are estimated by assuming that the neutral and singly ionized species are associated with the neutral phase from which the H i column density originates and consequently do not require ionization corrections (Viegas 1995, Lu et al. 1995). Upper limits of detection are computed under the optically thin case approximation by considering the contributions of the four stronger components (7, 8, 10 and 11) not detected at 4 $`\sigma `$. When the absorption lines are saturated, we give a lower limit.

The difficulty in determining accurate O i column densities is due to the fact that the only strong transition available redwards of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission is the O i$`\lambda `$1302 transition which is usually saturated in DLA systems. This transition is also saturated in this system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$ (see Fig. 1), and thus allows to derive only a lower limit to the total $`N`$(O i). We have looked for other oxygen lines in the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest namely, O i$`\lambda `$921.857, $`\lambda `$929.517, $`\lambda `$936.629, $`\lambda `$948.685, $`\lambda `$950.885, $`\lambda `$988.773 and $`\lambda `$1039.230. Most of these lines are heavily contaminated by the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest absorption lines and cannot be used for any column density measurement. However, as we can see in Fig. 1, the O i$`\lambda `$936.629 and $`\lambda `$1039.230 lines put a stringent upper limit on the O i column densities of the two strong components 10 and 11, which are saturated in the O i$`\lambda `$1302 line. This plays a crucial role in favour of the accuracy of the determined $`N`$(O i) column density value, since the measured upper limits are very close to the lower limit obtained from the O i$`\lambda `$1302 line. Then, the only remaining saturated components in the O i$`\lambda `$1302 line are the two other strong components 7 and 8 for which the other O i lines do not provide any constraint on their column densities. Nevertheless, the error made on the column densities of these two components has a negligible effect on the total $`N`$(O i) column density: if we suppose a 40% underestimation of the column densities of the components 7 and 8 (which has an important impact on the fit quality of the O i$`\lambda `$1302 line, owing to the very high signal-to-noise ratio in this region of the spectrum), it implies a variation of the total $`\mathrm{log}N`$(O i) of 0.02 only, a variation which is fully taken into account by the adopted error bar of 0.17 on $`\mathrm{log}N`$(O i). We conclude that the O i column density is constrained in the range $`15.74<\mathrm{log}N(\text{}\text{i})<16.08`$.

Accurate determinations of the carbon column densities present the same difficulty as for oxygen. The C ii$`\lambda `$1334 line redwards of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission is heavily saturated and provides only a lower limit to $`N`$(C ii), and the C ii$`\lambda `$1036 line is blended with Ly$`\alpha `$ forest absorptions (Fig. 1). The C ii$`{}_{}{}^{}\lambda `$1335 metastable line is not detected, and thus provides only an upper limit for the C ii column density.

Silicon has been derived from the Si ii$`\lambda `$1304 and $`\lambda `$1526 lines and Al from the Al ii$`\lambda `$1670 line. The Ni ii$`\lambda `$1317 and $`\lambda `$1370 lines are not detected, and thus provide only an upper limit for the Ni column density. The iron abundance is obtained from the Fe ii$`\lambda `$1608 line: \[Fe/H\]222\[X/H\] $`\mathrm{log}`$\[$`N`$(X)/$`N`$(H)\]$`_{\text{DLA}}`$ $`\mathrm{log}`$\[$`N`$(X)/$`N`$(H)\]. $`=1.97\pm 0.19`$. Zn is a useful metal content indicator because it is undepleted in the interstellar medium (Pettini et al. 1997). Zn abundance measurements are however not possible in this DLA system, since the doublet Zn ii$`\lambda `$2026 and $`\lambda `$2062 fall outside the working range of the spectrograph at an observed wavelength $`\lambda >11000`$ Å.

The N i triplet near 1200 Å is clearly detected (see Fig. 1) in the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest, although only the four stronger components (7, 8, 10 and 11) are free of the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest absorption contamination. By fitting these four components and by adding up their measured column densities, we derived a satisfactory value of the $`N`$(N i) column density (the contribution of the other eight components to the total column density is negligible compared to the contribution of these four dominant components). The S ii triplet near 1253 Å is also detected in the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest, but it is strongly contaminated by the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest absorptions. By fitting the four dominant components (7, 8, 10 and 11), an upper limit to the $`N`$(S ii) column density has been derived.

## 4 Relative abundances

### 4.1 Metallicity and dust content

The metallicity \[Fe/H\] $`=1.97\pm 0.19`$ of the most distant DLA system known to the present date at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$, observed when the age of the universe was only 1.3333Assuming H$`{}_{0}{}^{}=60`$ km s-1 Mpc-1, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=0.4`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0=0.6`$. Gyr, is low but still a factor of two higher than the most metal-poor Galactic stars. It is not even the lowest metallicity level of all known DLA systems. Several systems have metallicities much lower than that and some of them in fact do lie at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}<3`$. The lowest abundances known to date, \[Fe/H\] $`<2.6`$, have been measured at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=2.076`$ toward Q 2206$``$199 (Prochaska & Wolfe 1997a), at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=2.618`$ toward Q 0913$`+`$072 (Ledoux et al. 1998) and at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.203`$ toward BR 0951$``$04 (Prochaska & Wolfe 1999). The \[Fe/H\] $`=1.97\pm 0.19`$ value of this system indeed shows that the very young object ($`1.3`$ Gyr) responsible for the DLA absorber has already experienced a significant metal production.

Prochaska & Wolfe (2000) have recently discussed the high-quality measurements of the Fe abundance in 39 DLA systems. They find a moderate trend (with a large scatter) of decreasing \[Fe/H\] for individual absorbers from $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=1.5`$ to $`4.4`$. The $`N`$(H i)-weighted mean metallicity exhibits on the contrary a minimal evolution over the same redshift interval. Our result at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$ is consistent with this recent metallicity evolution review, since the metallicity found, \[Fe/H\] $`=1.97\pm 0.19`$, is representative of the unweighted mean \[Fe/H\] metallicity for their high-redshift sub-sample, $`\text{[Fe/H]}_{z_{high}=[3;4.4[}`$ $`=1.83`$.

The estimated upper limit of the nickel abundance \[Ni/H\] $`<2.35`$ gives \[Ni/Fe\] $`<0.41`$. This upper limit is significantly lower than the \[Ni/Fe\] values found in Galactic metal-poor stars which are nearly solar down to very low metallicities (Goswami & Prantzos 2000). This underabundance of \[Ni/Fe\], measured despite the use of the updated Ni ii $`f`$-value from Zsargó & Ferderman (1998), may be interpreted at a first glance as the result of differential depletion of Ni and Fe from the gas phase onto dust grains by analogy to what is observed in the Galactic ISM with Ni being more heavily depleted than Fe (Savage & Sembach 1996). However, this interpretation has to be considered with caution, since the measurement of Ni in the dust-free DLA system toward Q 0000$``$2620 by Molaro et al. (2000) shows also a significant underabundance of \[Ni/Fe\], \[Ni/H\] $`=2.27`$ for a metallicity of \[Fe/H\] $`=2.04`$. Thus, the \[Ni/Fe\] ratio is not a good indicator of dust content in DLA systems.

The best constraint on dust content we have for the DLA system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$ comes from the nearly solar \[O/Si\] ratio of $`0.09\pm 0.18`$. It is suggestive of limited amounts of dust, since O is a non-refractory element and a depletion of Si onto dust grains would imply an intrinsic \[O/Si\] ratio much too undersolar. The derived \[O/Si\] ratio is also in excellent agreement with the usual assumption of nearly solar \[O/$`\alpha `$\] ratios in DLA systems (e.g. Lu et al. 1998). Limited amounts of dust in this DLA system allow a study of relative abundances exempt from strong uncertainties deriving from the unknown fraction of elements which condenses onto dust grains.

### 4.2 $`\alpha `$-element to Fe abundances

The \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] abundance ratio is a good indicator of the chemical evolution history which can be used to understand the nature of galaxies. In the early stages of the chemical evolution of galaxies the abundances are likely dominated by Type II supernovae (SNe) products rich in $`\alpha `$-elements created within $`<2\times 10^7`$ yr. The Type I SNe products, the Fe-peak elements, entered into the game only after $`>10^810^9`$ yr. Thus, in the early stages the $`\alpha `$-elements are expected to be more abundant than the Fe-peak elements, and the ratio \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] should decline later on during evolution. The exact timing of the decline depends on both the star formation rate and the initial mass function. A galaxy which turns most of its gas into stars within $`10^9`$ yr would maintain an enhanced \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] ratio while \[Fe/H\] grows to high values (Fuhrmann 1998). At the other extreme, in a galaxy with a small star formation rate or with bursts separated by quiescent periods lasting more than $`10^9`$ yr, there would be time for \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] to decline to at least solar values while \[Fe/H\] remains low (Pagel & Tautvaisviene 1998).

Si is the most accessible $`\alpha `$-element in the DLA systems. However it is a refractory element, and due to the Si depletion coupled with a stronger Fe depletion onto dust grains (Savage & Sembach 1996), we observe similar \[Si/Fe\] ratios in the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) as in the Galactic metal-poor stars presumed to exhibit nucleosynthetic patterns typical of Type II supernovae. In the presence of dust, it is therefore difficult to determine the intrinsic \[Si/Fe\] enhancement. In the DLA system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$, we derive \[Si/H\] $`=1.54\pm 0.11`$ which implies \[Si/Fe\] $`=0.43\pm 0.18`$, a relatively high $`\alpha `$ enhancement. At the metallicity of \[Fe/H\] $`=1.97\pm 0.19`$, this \[Si/Fe\] value corresponds to the typical values of the Galactic metal-poor stars (Goswami & Prantzos 2000), and in a dust-limited system it is suggestive of a Type II SN enrichment.

Oxygen is also a typical product of Type II SNe and shows an important enhancement in Galactic metal-poor stars, \[O/Fe\] $`0.35`$ at \[Fe/H\] $`=2.00`$ (McWilliam 1997). Claims for an even more extreme overabundance of O with \[O/Fe\] reaching 1.0 dex at \[Fe/H\] $`=3.0`$ have recently been made by Israelian et al. (1998) and Boesgaard et al. (1999). The oxygen dust depletion is negligible (Savage & Sembach 1996), therefore O is an excellent diagnostic tool of the \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] abundance ratio. In the studied DLA system, we derive \[O/H\] $`=1.63\pm 0.19`$, which implies \[O/Fe\] $`=0.34\pm 0.24`$. This value is representative of the typical Type II SN enriched Galactic metal-poor star abundance pattern.

Another important diagnostic tool of the \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] abundance ratio is sulphur. S also shows in Galactic metal-poor stars the typical enhancement of $`\alpha `$-elements with \[S/Fe\] $`0.4/0.6`$ (François 1988), and it is nearly undepleted from gas to dust (Savage & Sembach 1996). We manage to derive only a non-significant upper limit \[S/H\] $`<0.41`$, which does not provide any interesting constraint on the \[S/Fe\] ratio (\[S/Fe\] $`<1.56`$).

We have finally at our disposal essentially two indicators of the $`\alpha `$-element abundances, Si and O. The \[Si/Fe\] $`=0.43\pm 0.18`$ and \[O/Fe\] $`=0.34\pm 0.24`$ ratios both show a significant \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] enhancement due to the Type II SN enrichment similar to that of the Galactic stars with comparable metallicities. A \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] enhancement due to dust depletion effects is ruled out by the presence of limited amounts of dust in this DLA system. We can thus suggest that the DLA system towards APM BR J0307$``$4945 is undergoing a chemical evolution enrichment similar to that expected in the initial phases of a massive galaxy like the Milky Way.

### 4.3 Nitrogen abundance

Nitrogen is a key element in understanding the evolution of galaxies with few star forming events, since it needs relatively long timescales as well as relatively high underlying metallicity to be produced (Matteucci et al. 1997). The reason is that N is believed to be produced principally in intermediate-mass stars, specifically those stars between 4 and 8 M which undergo hot bottom burning and expel large amounts of primary N at low metallicities and secondary N at higher metallicities produced in the CNO cycle from C and O created in earlier generations of stars (Henry et al. 2000).

In our system the N abundance is \[N/H\] $`=3.07\pm 0.15`$, which implies \[N/O\] $`=1.44\pm 0.21`$ at \[O/H\] $`=1.63\pm 0.19`$. This very low \[N/O\] ratio, much lower than the corresponding values in the Milky Way and in the H ii regions, lies in the region limited by the tracks of primary and secondary N production (Vila-Costas & Edmunds 1993), close to a pure secondary N production behaviour.

All studied DLA systems occupy the same delimited region, and show a large scatter with some \[N/O\] values consistent with a pure secondary behaviour and others requiring a primary production of N (Lu et al. 1998, Centuríon et al. 1998). The different \[N/O\] values observed at a given \[O/H\] may be interpreted in terms of the delayed delivery of N with respect to O when star formation proceeds in bursts (Edmunds & Pagel 1978). In this model, galaxies that have experienced a recent episode of star formation show low \[N/O\] ratios due to the quick production of O in massive stars ($`6`$ Myr for a 25 M star). Galaxies that have been quiescent for a long period show high \[N/O\], N is released after approximatively 250 Myr as a product of intermediate-mass stars and the \[N/O\] ratio increases while \[O/H\] remains constant. Therefore, the scatter comes about by observing DLA systems in various stages of O and N enrichment.

The derived very low \[N/O\] ratio may thus be explained as representing very early stages of N/O evolution when intermediate-mass stars have not yet begun to release N, i.e. roughly 250 Myr or less after a star burst. It thus seems reasonable to expect also an overabundance of the $`\alpha `$-elements relative to Fe-peak elements, an overabundance which has been highlighted by the \[Si/Fe\] and \[O/Fe\] abundance ratios in Sect. 4.2.

## 5 Kinematics

The metal line profiles of DLA absorbers in principle provide information in velocity space on the gas kinematics. Whether this information can be used as a diagnostic of motions on galactic scales and what motions indeed dominate the kinematics is still an open question. The kinds of motion one may expect to be at play in a gas-rich environment, and in proto-galaxies, are rotation of clouds in a disk-like structure, and radial infall and random motions of clouds in a halo. A realistic description may have to combine both effects as is probably the case in Mg ii and Lyman-limit systems at intermediate redshifts (Charlton & Churchill 1996). In DLA systems, systematic high-resolution studies of low-ionization lines have established that the profiles are often asymmetric with the strongest absorption lying at an edge of the profile (Prochaska & Wolfe 1997b, 1998). This was first interpreted as the signature of large, fast-rotating thick disks although the current body of data is also consistent with relative motions of clouds with limited rotation (Haehnelt et al. 1998, Ledoux et al. 1998, McDonald & Miralda-Escudé 1999).

In the DLA absorber towards APM BR J0307$``$4945, the shape of the unsaturated Fe ii$`\lambda `$1608 line profile is strongly suggestive of edge-leading asymmetry in the sense that the strongest absorption itself is located at an edge of the profile (see Fig. 1). The signal-to-noise ratio is not high enough in this spectral region, however, to decide whether the entire profile is asymmetric, with steadily decreasing optical depth with decreasing wavelength. Stronger transition lines from different elements including Al ii and O i, the latter being a good tracer of the neutral phase, indeed display huge variations of optical depths along their profiles. In particular, whereas the low-ion profiles extend over 240 km s-1, they have relatively small or negligible optical depths in a spectral region 25 km s-1 wide just blueward of the strong components at the red edge of the profiles. Moreover, the best fit model described in Sect. 3 indeed indicates that about 80% of the metals are distributed in two sub-systems of comparable importance, separated by $`70`$ km s-1 and spanning only about 25 km s-1 each (components 6, 7, 8 on the one hand, and 10, 11, 12 on the other hand). The kinematics of the absorber can therefore also be understood as having a main double peaked structure. This is expected, for instance, during a merging event involving two proto-galactic clumps surrounded by tidal material and radially infalling clouds; this possibility is strongly supported by the results of numerical N-body/hydrodynamic simulations (see Haehnelt et al. 1998, 2000).

The comparison of the relative strength and velocity distribution of line profiles arising from different phases also provides information on the ionization structure and spatial distribution of the absorbing gas. In the DLA system under study, the shapes of the C iv and Si iv profiles are similar and globally symmetric with the strongest absorption located at the center of the profile; they also clearly differ from the low ions. The total velocity broadening is larger for the high-ion (305 km s-1) than it is for the low-ion profiles (240 km s-1). However the two different phases are related, it has been shown from a statistical point of view that there is a trend for the total velocity broadenings of C iv and Fe ii to be correlated (Ledoux et al. 1998; see also Wolfe & Prochaska 2000). Besides, it is apparent in Fig. 2 that, while there is a velocity interval common to both phases, the high-ion profiles extend much farther into the blue. The DLA absorber towards APM BR J0307$``$4945 may thus be a good illustration of a scenario in which ionized gas is flowing out with velocities of up to $`300`$ km s-1 relative to the bulk of one of two main neutral clumps.

## 6 Conclusion

Observations with the new UVES echelle spectrograph at the 8.2m VLT Kueyen telescope provided the first high-quality spectra of the distant APM BR J0307$``$4945 quasar at $`z_{\mathrm{em}}=4.73`$. We focused our analysis on the metal abundances of a damped Ly$`\alpha `$ system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=4.466`$, the most distant DLA system known to the present date, observed when the age of the universe was only 1.3 Gyr. It has a hydrogen column density of $`N`$(H i) $`=(4.68\pm 0.97)10^{20}`$ cm-2, and shows complex low- and high-ion line profiles spanning $`240`$ and $`300`$ km s-1 in velocity space respectively. By fitting Voigt profiles to the observed absorption lines and by neglecting ionization corrections, we obtained \[N/H\] $`=3.07\pm 0.15`$, \[O/H\] $`=1.63\pm 0.19`$, \[Al/H\] $`=1.79\pm 0.11`$, \[Si/H\] $`=1.54\pm 0.11`$, \[Fe/H\] $`=1.97\pm 0.19`$, and we placed a lower limit on the abundance of C, \[C/H\] $`>1.63`$ and an upper limit on the abundance of Ni, \[Ni/H\] $`<2.35`$.

The Fe abundance, \[Fe/H\] $`=1.97\pm 0.19`$, is representative of the mean \[Fe/H\] metallicity (unweighted by the H i column density) for the high-redshift sub-sample of Prochaska & Wolfe (2000), and is thus consistent with a moderate metallicity decrease towards high redshifts. This metallicity, $`1/90`$ solar, also shows that the very young object ($`1.3`$ Gyr) responsible for the DLA absorber has already experienced a significant metal enrichment.

The relative \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] abundance ratios resemble those expected in the early phases of evolution of a massive galaxy such as our own Galaxy. The \[Si/Fe\] $`=0.43\pm 0.18`$ and \[O/Fe\] $`=0.34\pm 0.24`$ ratios indeed show both a significant \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] enhancement due to Type II SN enrichment similar to the one of the Galactic stars with comparable metallicities, in the presence of limited amounts of dust as inferred by the nearly solar \[O/Si\] ratio. The Type II SN enrichment is further supported by the very low \[N/O\] $`=1.44\pm 0.21`$ ratio.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are indebted to all people involved in the conception, construction and commissioning of UVES for the high quality of the spectra obtained early in the operation of the instrument. We warmly thank J.X. Prochaska and J. Bergeron for useful comments on an earlier version of the paper and P. Bristow for carefully checking the english text. M.D.-Z. is supported by an ESO Studentship and the Swiss National Funds.