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# COLA II - Radio and Spectroscopic Diagnostics of Nuclear Activity in Galaxies

## 1 Introduction

Many galaxies exhibit nuclear activity which cannot be directly attributed to stars. Instead, these Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are generally believed to be powered by the accretion of matter onto a supermassive black hole (e.g. Blandford & Rees, 1992). Recent kinematic/dynamical studies of nearby galaxies, both with and without AGN, have revealed that many possess a massive central dark object (see e.g. Maoz et al. (1998),Ho (2002), and the review paper by Kormendy & Gebhard (2001)), but it is still not known whether all galaxies contain a central black hole. Assuming many, if not all, galaxies possess a massive nuclear black hole, an additional puzzle is that AGNs are only observed in a fraction ($``$ 20%) of them.

It is often speculated that the presence of an AGN in a galaxy is in some way related to the circumnuclear environment of the host galaxy. However, although observations have shown that many of the host galaxies of AGN also exhibit circumnuclear phenomena such as starburst activity, inner rings, spirals or bars (e.g. Ho et al., 1997b; Martini & Pogge, 1999; Knapen et al., 2000), it is not known whether these signs of activity are related to the mechanisms for fueling an AGN, are triggered by the AGN, or are entirely unrelated to the presence of an AGN. Additionally it has long been speculated that AGN-activity may be triggered and fueled by galaxy-galaxy interactions, yet direct causal links between the degree of interaction and AGN activity have remained elusive, at least at low luminosities (e.g. Bushouse, 1986; Keel, 1996; Wu et al., 1998; Combes, 2001).

Studies of the relationship between AGN and their circumnuclear environment are complicated by the need to quantify the relative strengths of the AGN and any nuclear starburst activity. These measures are often wavelength dependent and can introduce selection biases to the data. An additional problem is the nature of LINERs and their importance in a starburst/AGN regime.

Optical line ratios have long provided a good discriminator between AGN and starburst–dominated galaxies. Galaxies are often classified as AGN or starburst (HII) dominated based on their emission line ratios, following an empirical system developed by Baldwin, Phillips, & Terlevich (1981), and refined by Veilleux & Osterbrock (1987) (hereafter VO87). There are, potentially, situations in which optical spectroscopy may fail to reveal an AGN because of the existence of significant optical obscuration by dust in the galaxy center. This is of particular concern for ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and some Seyfert IIs, where large optical and near-IR extinction is suspected (e.g. Genzel et al., 1998; Laurent et al., 2000). However, even in the case of very dusty ULIRGs the optical classification of nuclear activity in all but the most extreme cases is still reliable (Lutz et al., 1998; Genzel et al., 1998; Veilleux et al., 1999; Hwang et al., 1999; Murphy et al., 1999).

Optical line ratios are not the only diagnostic of AGN and starburst emission. The presence of a luminous compact radio core in a galaxy is often taken to be a strong indication of an AGN. Studies such as Norris et al. (1990), Heisler et al. (1998) and Kewley et al. (2000) had a very high detection rate ($``$ 80-90%) of compact cores ($`<0.1^{\prime \prime }`$) in galaxies classified optically as AGN, but compact cores were also detected in galaxies classified optically as starbursts albeit at a considerably lower rate ($``$ 5-30%). In a much higher resolution VLBI study by Smith et al. (1998a, hereafter SLL98), the detection rate of compact cores in AGN and starburst galaxies was found to be similar, with about 50% of the galaxies containing cores. While it is possible that the cores detected in the starburst galaxies could be dust obscured AGN, modeling by SLL98 using estimates of the star formation rate in the host galaxies indicated that many of the lower luminosity compact cores could be explained by emission from complexes of compact supernovae remnants (RSNe) with a diameter of $``$ 10pc. Indeed VLBI observations of Arp 220, a source which was once believe to be powered by a dust-enshrouded AGN, revealed that its core consists of a complex of 12 point sources believed to be RSNe (Smith et al., 1998b). Kewley et al. (2000) found that higher radio–luminosity cores tend to be found in Seyferts rather than starburst galaxies. The radio emission from the high luminosity cores is often more luminous than can be accounted for by synchrotron emission from a single RSNe.

As part of the COLA project, high resolution radio snapshot observations of the southern sample (105) of nearby galaxies were obtained with the Australian Long Baseline Array (LBA) in order to identify compact ($`<0.05^{\prime \prime }`$) high brightness temperature radio cores (Corbett et al., 2002, hereafter Paper I). A study of the northern COLA galaxies is less advanced (P. Appleton et al. in preparation), but is concentrating on the connection between nuclear activity and galaxy-galaxy interactions. In the current paper we present optical spectroscopic observations of 93 galaxies from the southern sample, and use the ratios of the optical emission lines in their nuclear (1 kpc) regions to make spectral classifications. We investigate whether there is any relationship between the properties of the galaxies at radio and infrared wavelengths and their optical classification.

The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 2 contains a brief description of the selection criteria for the galaxy sample and the definitions of quantities used in the paper. The optical spectroscopic observations are presented in Section 3 together with a description of the data reduction and calibration procedure. The optical classifications of the galaxies are discussed in Section 4 and are compared with those obtained for other galaxy surveys. We compare the optical classifications of the galaxies with their infrared, far infrared and radio properties in Section 5 and discuss the relationship between the presence of a compact radio core and galaxy spectral type in Section 6. Finally, in Section 7, we summarize our conclusions. Detailed notes on individual galaxies are included in the Appendix.

## 2 Sample Selection

The COLA galaxy sample consists of an all-sky sample of galaxies in the IRAS Point Source Catalogue (1988) which satisfy the following criteria:

* Flux at 60$`\mu `$m, $`\mathrm{S}_{60}>`$ 4Jy. If the sources follow the radio-FIR correlation, this flux limit ensures that they have fluxes greater than 10mJy at radio wavelengths and thus the majority ($`>`$90%) of the galaxies will be detected at optical \- radio wavelengths. The sample was flux limited at 60$`\mu `$m as AGN emission is believed to be isotropic at this wavelength (Keel et al., 1994);
* 3500 $`<`$ helio-velocity $`<`$ 7000 km s-1 , as measured by Strauss et al. (1992);
* Galactic latitude, $`|b|`$, greater than 10o to ensure that the IR flux measurements were not contaminated by Galactic cirrus.

The selection criteria and potential sources of bias are discussed in detail in Paper I.

In this paper we use the standard definitions (see e.g. Helou, Soifer & Rowan-Robinson, 1985; Sanders & Mirabel, 1996) of the infrared flux, SIR, and far-infrared flux SFIR

$$S_{IR}=1.8\times 10^{14}(13.56S_{12}+5.26S_{25}+2.54S_{60}+S_{100})Wm^2$$
(1)
$$S_{FIR}=1.8\times 10^{14}(2.54S_{60}+S_{100})Wm^2$$
(2)
where S12, S25, S60, S100 are the IRAS fluxes in Jy of the galaxies at 12, 25, 60 and 100$`\mu `$m respectively.

Throughout this paper we assume H0=75 km s-1 Mpc-1 and q0 = 0.5 but our conclusions are independent of the exact values adopted. The absolute luminosities quoted in this paper are dependent on both H0 and q0 and should therefore be converted if a different cosmology is assumed.

## 3 Observations

The optical spectroscopic observations were obtained over the period October 1998 - February 2001 with the Dual Beam Spectrograph (DBS) on the 2.3m telescope at the Mount Stromlo and Siding Springs Observatory. Gratings with 1200 lines per mm were used in both the red and the blue arms, giving a resolution of 0.57Å per pixel and a wavelength coverage of 6000-7000 Å and 4600-5600Å in the red and blue arms respectively. A slit width between $`1^{\prime \prime }`$ and $`2^{\prime \prime }`$ was used during the observations and the spatial resolution is $`0.9^{\prime \prime }`$ per pixel. The seeing during these observations varied from sub-arcsecond to more than $`2^{\prime \prime }`$, with $`1^{\prime \prime }`$ corresponding to between 0.2 and 0.4 kpc at the redshift range of our sample. Three exposures of 300s were initially obtained of each galaxy in our sample, but this was increased to 600s when observing conditions deteriorated. Spectrophotometric and smooth standards (often the same stars) were observed during each night and used to flux calibrate and correct for atmospheric absorption features in the spectra.

Data reduction was carried out in the standard manner using IRAF and a pipeline reduction script. The frames were de-biased (using both bias frames and the bias strip on the individual observations) and flat-fielded. Galaxy spectra were extracted using an aperture centered on the position of peak flux across the slit, and with a width corresponding to 1 kpc (typically 2.5-5 pixels) at the redshift of each galaxy. If more than one peak was seen in the spatial direction, a spectrum was extracted at the position of each peak. Sky-subtraction was then carried out and wavelength calibration done using an Ne-Ar arc lamp. In general an arc lamp observation was obtained immediately after a galaxy observation, i.e. before the telescope was moved to its new position. In a few cases the arc observations were obtained at the end of the night with the DBS rotated to 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees so as to be within 22.5 degrees of its position during each target observation. This condition allows us to correct for minor wavelength shifts of the arc lines with rotator angle caused by flexure of the spectrograph structure.

The observations were then corrected for atmospheric extinction and flux calibrated using the spectrum of a spectrophotometric standard. Finally the atmospheric absorption features in the target spectra were removed by dividing the spectra by a template atmospheric absorption spectrum obtained from a smooth spectrum standard observed at a similar airmass to the target. Unfortunately, observing conditions were rarely photometric, and on several nights the seeing was greater than $`2.5^{\prime \prime }`$. As a result the flux calibrations are not accurate to better than 30% .

The line fluxes were measured by fitting Gaussians to the emission lines using the splot task in IRAF. The continuum flux was subtracted using a linear fit to small portions of the continuum either side of the emission line. The H$`\alpha `$ ($`\lambda `$ 6562Å) and \[NII\] ($`\lambda \lambda `$ 6583Å, 6548Å) doublet were often blended and their line profiles were de-blended by simultaneously fitting a separate Gaussian for each line. When H$`\beta `$ was present in absorption as well as emission both the emission and absorption features were fitted simultaneously with Gaussians. On a few occasions, such as when the emission lines were highly asymmetric, an adequate fit was not obtained by fitting a single Gaussian to each emission line. In these cases, a secondary Gaussian was introduced to each line fit. Generally, this secondary Gaussian had much lower flux than the principal component and a similar FWHM. For the objects treated in this way, the flux measured from the two-component Gaussian fit to each line was summed to give the final flux measured for the line. One galaxy (IRAS 13035-4008) exhibited strong broad H$`\beta `$ and H$`\alpha `$ components. In this case we attempted to de-blend the broad and narrow components with multi-Gaussian fits and used only the narrow component of the emission lines to calculate the line ratios.

At the upper limit of the redshift range of our sample, the \[SII\] doublet ($`\lambda \lambda `$ 6730, 6716) lies in the B-band atmospheric absorption features (at $``$ 6900 Å). It was not always possible to achieve an adequate correction for the absorption features, and so we do not quote the fluxes for the \[SII\] emission lines for these objects.

The emission line fluxes measured from the fits to the spectra were corrected for extinction by dust along the line of sight following Veilleux & Osterbrock (1987). The Whitford reddening curve (as parameterized by Miller & Mathews, 1972) was used, with the assumption that the ratios of the line intensity at H$`\alpha `$ to that at H$`\beta `$, is 2.85 for HII-like objects and 3.1 for AGN. Each object was provisionally classified optically as HII region-like or AGN-like (following the procedure described in Section 4.1) before the extinction correction was applied to determine whether the AGN or HII correction was used. For objects lying close to the partition line between the AGN and HII classes, the line fluxes were corrected once assuming an HII-like I(H$`\alpha `$)/I(H$`\beta `$) and once assuming an AGN I(H$`\alpha `$)/I(H$`\beta `$). In practice the extinction correction does not change the spectral classification and thus objects which lie on the partition between AGN and HII are corrected for extinction using the AGN values for the Balmer decrement. The extinction-corrected ratios of the emission lines and the E(B-V) estimates for the COLA galaxies are shown in Table 1.

Optical spectra were obtained for 78 of the 107 galaxies in our initial sample. An additional 15 galaxies in our sample were observed by Kewley et al. (2001b), and since their measurements were obtained using an identical observing and data reduction procedure to our own, we reproduce their results here. The remaining 14 galaxies were not observed due to a combination of poor weather and lack of telescope time. Aside from ensuring that we obtained optical spectra for those sources in which compact radio cores were detected (see Section 6) the process of deciding which galaxies to observe from the sample of 107 was essentially random. We therefore do not believe that the lack of spectra for a small number of objects will introduce a bias into our results.

We were unable to classify 15/93 galaxies either because H$`\beta `$ was only detected in absorption rather than emission (6 galaxies) or because no features (either in absorption or emission) were detected in the blue (9 galaxies), probably due to poor signal to noise in the data. In one galaxy, IRAS 10567-4310, H$`\beta `$ is detected in emission but not \[OIII\]. An upper limit on the \[OIII\]/H$`\beta `$ ratio has been derived for this galaxy indicating that it is a starburst (or HII) galaxy but we do not plot it on the optical diagnostic diagrams. Ten galaxies exhibit multiple “hotspots”, and the emission line ratios for each hotspot are listed separately in Table 1.

For these observations the slit was positioned by eye over the brightest region of the galaxy and rotated to include any obvious structures or hot spots. It is possible that inaccurate placement of the slit may have resulted in our missing the nucleus in a few cases. Given the small number of objects in which multiple regions of star formation were detected (10/93; 11%) we would expect that inaccurate placement of the slit would be more likely to result in no emission lines being observed (and hence no classification obtained) than an incorrect classification (e.g. a Seyfert galaxy being classified as a starburst galaxy). For this reason galaxies for which we were unable to obtain a classification are excluded from much of the statistical analysis discussed in this paper. There is a possibility, however, that small errors in slit placement may change the line ratios by a small amount. In any case, errors in positioning the slit can only reduce the degree of activity inferred from the line ratios (i.e. demote a Seyfert galaxy to a LINER or a LINER to a starburst galaxy).

## 4 Spectral Classification

### 4.1 V95 Classification Scheme

The ratios of the \[OIII\] $`\lambda `$5007/H$`\beta `$ lines versus the \[NII\] $`\lambda `$6583/H$`\alpha `$, \[SII\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6716,6730/H$`\alpha `$, and \[OI\] $`\lambda `$6300/H$`\alpha `$ ratios were used to classify the galaxies into starburst (HII region-like) and AGN using the semi-empirical classification scheme developed by VO87.

The galaxies were classified for each diagnostic diagram (Fig. 1) separately and the adopted classification is shown in Table 1. Galaxies which lie below and to the left of the partition line in each diagram are classified as starburst (HII) galaxies. Galaxies which lie above and to the right of the partition line in each diagram are classified as AGN. The AGN-like galaxies were further divided following Veilleux et al. (1995, hereafter V95) into “classic Seyferts” which exhibit high excitation with \[OIII\]5007/H$`\beta `$ $``$3 and LINERS which show lower excitation, i.e. \[OIII\]5007/H$`\beta `$ $`<`$3 (e.g. Heckman et al., 1980). For the remainder of this paper we will use the term V95 to refer to the VO87 classification system with the additional LINER class. In Figure 1, the V95 partition line is shown as a thick dotted line with thin dotted lines at $`\pm `$ 0.05 dex. A thin dotted line is also shown at \[OIII\]5007/H$`\beta `$ = 3.

AGN with broad Balmer emission lines (i.e. $`>`$ 2000 kms-1) were classified as Seyfert 1 galaxies. Galaxies which lie within 0.05 dex of the partition line (shown as dotted lines on the diagnostic diagrams; Fig. 1) are classified as borderline or transition objects. The final classification of each galaxy is based on the class given for each diagnostic diagram. Galaxies classified as borderline in at least two diagrams or borderline in one and AGN in another have a final classification of borderline (B). A galaxy classified as HII in two diagrams and borderline in one would have a final classification of HII. Finally, those galaxies which are classified as HII galaxies in one diagram and AGN in another diagram are classified as ambiguous.

For galaxies with multiple “hotspots”, it was necessary to define one overall classification in order to simplify comparison with other surveys and our lower resolution multi-wavelength observations of the galaxies. We have therefore defined the aperture (or “hotspot”) closest to the center of the galaxy as the “nuclear” spectrum and it is this classification which is used for the galaxy in the analysis described in Sections 5 and 6. On one occasion it was impossible to determine which hotspot was the more central and the hotspot with the brightest emission lines was designated the “nuclear” spectrum. The additional “hotspots” detected represent secondary emission line regions (generally fainter than those of the “nuclear” hotspot), possibly due to a galaxy merger, and may even be additional nuclei. It can be seen from Table 2 that the majority (10/13) of these additional emission line regions are classified as starbursts, with the remaining three classified as ambiguous (2) or borderline starburst (1).

According to the V95 classification scheme, we find that 12 of the galaxies in our sample are Seyferts and 45 are dominated by starburst emission (Table 2). Excluding the 15 galaxies for which no spectral classification was obtained, this amounts to 15.4% Seyferts and 57.1% starburst with the remainder having borderline (10.2%), LINER (7.7%) or ambiguous (9.0%) classifications, in good agreement with other similar studies. For example, from observations of 182 luminous infrared galaxies (L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>`$3$`\times 10^{10}`$ L$`\mathrm{}`$) V95 classified 59% as starbursts and 14% as Seyferts. Similarly, Kewley et al. (2001a; hereafter K01), using the same system as V95, classified 58% of galaxies as starbursts and 18% as Seyferts from a sample of 225 galaxies selected on the basis of their IR colour (8 $`>S_{60}/S_{25}>`$0.5 and 2 $`>S_{60}/S_{100}>`$ 0.5) and flux ( S$`{}_{60}{}^{}>`$2.5Jy). A series of papers by Ho et al. (1997a) (hereafter H97), investigates the prevalence of low luminosity AGN (so called “dwarf” Seyfert galaxies) from spectroscopic observations of 486 nearby ($`z`$0) galaxies. Of the galaxies with emission line nuclei they classify $``$ 12% as Seyferts and $``$ 50% as starburst galaxies.

### 4.2 K01 Classification Scheme

Recently, K01 used detailed stellar population synthesis and photoionization models to develop an alternative scheme for the classification of starburst and AGN. This scheme is based on the standard emission line diagnostic diagrams and new theoretical classification lines. K01 demonstrated that their new theoretical scheme reduces the number of ambiguous classifications when compared to the V95 scheme, concluding that the position of the theoretical lines are more consistent from diagram to diagram than the semi-empirical V95 method. We also used this scheme to classify the COLA galaxies. The theoretical lines are shown as thick solid lines in Figure 1, with thinner solid lines at $`\pm `$ 0.5dex. As before, galaxies are classified as starbursts if they lie below and to the left of the theoretical line, and as AGN if they lie above and to the right of the theoretical line. As with the V95 system, galaxies which lie within 0.5 dex of the line are classed as borderline (B). Galaxies which fall within the AGN region on one or two diagrams and the starburst region on the remaining diagram(s) have been given “ambiguous” classifications.

Using the K01 diagnostic diagrams results in a higher fraction of the galaxies being classified as starburst galaxies (76.9%) than from the V95 diagrams (Table 2). This is at the expense of the LINER, borderline and ambiguous classes which fall to 0%, 2.6% and 5.1% of the galaxy classifications respectively. All the galaxies classified as AGN were also classified as Seyferts under the V95 system and will therefore be referred to as Seyferts for the remainder of this paper. The fact that the number of ambiguous classifications as a whole is lower for the K01 scheme (4/93; 5%) than the V95 scheme (7/93; 9%) supports the conclusion by K01 that their theoretical scheme produces more consistent classifications from diagram to diagram. It is also interesting to note that all six galaxies classified as LINERs under the VO87 system are reclassified under the K01 system (3 as starburst galaxies, 2 as ambiguous and 1 as borderline). A more detailed investigation of the galaxies which change classification under the different schemes is given in an companion paper (P. Appleton et al., in preparation) but one possibility is that the original V95 ”LINER” classification actually encompasses AGN/starburst composites and metal-rich starbursts, the latter resulting in low \[OIII\]/H$`\beta `$ ratios but high \[NII\]/H$`\alpha `$ ratios.

### 4.3 AGN Contribution

The theoretical models developed by K01 have been used recently to develop mixing grids which allow the contribution of an AGN to the optical emission-line ratios to be found (Kewley et al., 2002, hereafter K02). Since there exists a range of possible starburst-AGN ratios due to the various combinations of ionization parameter and metallicity possible, K02 defined a maximum and a minimum mixing grid for each diagnostic diagram, which give the largest possible range in the AGN-related contribution to the optical emission-line ratios. The AGN contribution was calculated for each diagnostic diagram using the average result from the maximum and minimum mixing grids. The final AGN contribution used is an average from the three diagnostic diagrams, and is given in Table 3. The lower and upper limits on the AGN contribution for each galaxy are given by the lowest and highest contributions found out of all three diagrams.

It is important to note that this AGN contribution is an estimate of the amount of AGN contribution to the optical emission line ratios only (eg. \[OIII\]/H$`\beta `$, \[NII\]/H$`\alpha `$, \[SII\]/H$`\alpha `$, and \[OI\]/H$`\beta `$), not an estimate of the AGN contribution to the continuum, luminosity, or to the emission-lines by themselves. Nevertheless, the AGN contribution can serve as a useful indicator of the relative amount of star formation and AGN activity responsible for the radiation which ionizes the narrow emission-line gas. The 12 galaxies classified as Seyferts using both the V95 and K01 schemes are marked with an astrix (\*) in Table 3. It is interesting to note that out of these 12 Seyfert galaxies, 4 have optical AGN contributions under 50%, and one galaxy (IRAS 03022-1232) has an AGN contribution of only 25% to the total emission. The fact that an AGN needs to contribute only a small proportion of the emission line ratios for the galaxy to be classified as an AGN was also noted by K01, and is most likely due to the log-log nature of the diagnostic diagrams, making them particularly sensitive to the presence of an AGN, even when dominated by star formation. Massive star formation is generally expected near the nuclei of infrared luminous galaxies since interactions with companions, formation of bars, and other instabilities can efficiently drive large amounts of gas to the center (see Bryant & Scoville, 1999; Combes, 2001).

Compact nuclear starbursts and AGN in IR galaxies may be enshrouded by large quantities of dust (Clavel et al., 2000). In these cases, the emission is optically thick in the optical and near-IR, and the spectral energy distribution peaks in the far-IR (40–100$`\mu `$m). As a result, even if the presence of an AGN is revealed in the optical, it is difficult to quantify the effect of dust absorption and the reprocessing of its energy to longer wavelengths. To measure the AGN contribution to the bolometric luminosity of active galaxies better, diagnostics in mid-IR wavelengths, where we are less affected by extinction, have been developed (see Lutz et al., 1998; Genzel et al., 1998; Laurent et al., 2000; Charmandaris et al., 2002a, and references therein). Recent results using such IR diagnostics suggest that most ultraluminous infrared galaxies dominated by star formation in the optical are also dominated by their star formation in the infrared (Genzel et al., 1998; Lutz et al., 1999). However, while observations in the mid-IR can probe the dusty cores of IR bright galaxies much better than visible observations, the cores can still be optically thick in the mid-infrared. Furthermore, only a small fraction ($``$3–5%) of the total luminosity of the most luminous infrared galaxies emerges in the mid-IR (Charmandaris et al., 2002b)111For normal late type galaxies it has been shown that $``$15% of the luminosity is emitted between 5–20$`\mu `$m (Dale et al., 2001). Ideally one would want to directly probe the physical properties of the nucleus in wavelengths where most of the energy of those galaxies appears, but unfortunately the spatial resolution at far-IR is rather poor.

## 5 Infrared and Radio Properties

### 5.1 Infrared Properties

The IR fluxes used to select the original sample (see also Corbett et al., 2002) were taken from the IRAS Point Source Catalogue (Beichman et al., 1988). However, these fluxes are believed to be less accurate than those given in the Faint Source Catalogue (FSC) (Moshir et al., 1990). These new FSC fluxes are used for the analysis of the COLA galaxies, and are shown in Table 4.

It has long been proposed that the spectral class is linked with infrared luminosity (LIR). In general, AGN are found in galaxies which exhibit higher LIR than starburst galaxies selected from the same volume-limited sample (e.g. Sanders88; V95). To investigate such a dependency in the COLA sample, we split our sample into a number of luminosity ranges (shown in Fig. 2a; Table 5). Using the K01 classification scheme, we find that the proportion of starburst and Seyfert galaxies in each luminosity bin remains roughly constant with luminosity. In fact the Student t-Test reveals no statistical difference between the infrared luminosity of the Seyfert galaxies and the starburst galaxies. The number of galaxies with an ambiguous classification increases from $``$ 0% (0/22) with L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}<`$1010.75 to $``$18% (2/11) with L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>`$ 1011.25 but the small number of ambiguous galaxies in our sample (5/93) means that this trend is probably not significant.

Veilleux et al. (1999, hereafter V99) conducted an optical spectroscopic study of 108 ultraluminous infrared galaxies (L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>10^{12}L\mathrm{}`$) and combined it with V95 (L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>`$3$`\times 10^{10}`$ L$`\mathrm{}`$). They found that the proportion of galaxies classified as AGN (Seyferts and LINERS) increased with IR luminosity, contrary to our findings.

One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that the V99 sample extends into the ULIRG regime (L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>10^{12}`$) whereas our sample contains only 11 objects with L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>10^{11.25}`$. Our sample may simply not cover a large enough range in luminosity to identify a weak trend or, alternatively, the onset of a larger fraction of AGN may depend on a threshold effect around 1012L$`\mathrm{}`$ (see also Tran et al., 2001). On the other hand, it may be that the different classification schemes (V99 used the V95 scheme) are responsible for the discrepancy. We therefore re-examined the data using the V95 classifications and found that the proportion of starburst galaxies did indeed decrease with IR luminosity, falling from $``$60% at L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}<10^{10.75}`$L$`\mathrm{}`$ to $``$45% at L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>10^{11.25}`$L$`\mathrm{}`$ (Table 5, Fig. 2b). No obvious trend with luminosity was seen in the Seyferts but the proportion of LINERs, borderline and ambiguous galaxies rose from 14% (L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}<`$1011L$`\mathrm{}`$) to 36% (L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>`$1011.25). A Student t-Test indicates that the mean LIR of the combined LINER, borderline and ambiguous galaxies is higher than that of the V95 classified HII galaxies with a probability of $`<`$1% of being due to chance. Note that 21 galaxies are classified as LINERs, ambiguous or borderline galaxies under the V95 system, whereas the majority of these galaxies (15/21) are reclassified as starburst galaxies under the K01 system.

It has long been known (e.g. de Grijp et al., 1985) that Seyferts exhibit warmer IR colors, as measured by the ratio of emission at 60$`\mu `$m to that at 25$`\mu `$m. Consequently, AGN candidates have often been selected on the basis of warm IR colors (e.g. de Grijp et al., 1985, K01). We find that Seyferts make up 20% (9/43) of the galaxies with S60/S$`{}_{25}{}^{}<8`$ (the selection criterion used in K01 to select AGN candidates) and only 6% (3/50) galaxies with S60/S$`{}_{25}{}^{}>8`$ with a probability of $`<2\%`$ of such a distribution being obtained by chance, in good agreement with previous studies. The warm FIR colors exhibited by AGN are believed to be due to the hot gas and dust in the torus which is heated by emission from the accretion disk (Pier & Krolik, 1993; Efstathiou & Rowan-Robinson, 1995). Using the K01 classification scheme we find that there is no significant difference between the proportion of starburst galaxies with S60/S$`{}_{25}{}^{}<8`$ (70%, 30/43) and S60/S$`{}_{25}{}^{}>8`$ (60%, 30/50). The majority (14/15) of galaxies for which we were unable to measure line ratios have S60/S$`{}_{25}{}^{}>8`$, confirming our suspicion that these galaxies do not possess an excess of hot dust and are not active, hence the lack of measurable H$`\beta `$ emission.

The galaxies classified as LINERS, borderline and ambiguous using the V95 system tend to have cool FIR colors (14/21 have S60/S$`{}_{25}{}^{}>8`$) with a statistical probability $`<`$0.1% that the difference between their mean FIR colour compared to that of the starburst galaxies is due to chance. By contrast we find that the galaxies classified as borderline using the K01 system tend to have warm FIR colors (2/2 have S60/S$`{}_{25}{}^{}<8`$) while those with an ambiguous classification tend to have cooler FIR colors (3/4 have S60/S$`{}_{25}{}^{}>8`$) and starburst-like \[NII\] and \[SII\] line strengths with unusually strong \[OI\] emission222Curiously the one ambiguous galaxy which exhibits warm IR colors (IRAS 00085-1223) also exhibits strong (AGN-like) \[NII\] emission, possibly indicating that it is a composite galaxy.. The small number of borderline and ambiguous galaxies from the K01 system means that it is not possible to determine whether these trends are significant.

Our results imply that for galaxies with L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}<10^{12}`$L$`\mathrm{}`$ there is no evidence that the fraction of Seyfert galaxies increases with LIR. However, there is some evidence that the proportion of galaxies classified as LINERs, borderline and ambiguous galaxies using the V95 classification system does increase with LIR. These galaxies are reclassified as starburst/ambiguous galaxies, using the K01 system, and the fact that they tend to have cool FIR colors, unlike the Seyfert galaxies, supports the view that they are “unusual” (metal-rich) starbursts rather than AGN. One interpretation of this is that as LIR approaches 1012L$`\mathrm{}`$ starburst galaxies migrate into the metal-rich starburst region of the K01 diagrams, where they would become classified as LINERs/ ambiguous in the more traditional diagnostic diagrams (thus skewing the statistics away from starbursts). This will be investigated further in Appleton et al.

### 5.2 Radio-FIR Properties versus Galaxy Classification

The total integrated radio luminosities of the Southern COLA galaxies at 4.8, 2.5 and 1.4GHz were published in Paper I together with the results of Australian LBA snapshot observations. At 4.8GHz, 104 of the 107 galaxies were detected at the 5$`\sigma `$ level. A summary of the radio measurements is given in Table 4.

Three galaxies (IRAS 05449-0651, IRAS 10484-0153 and IRAS 15555-6610) were not detected at 4.8GHz. IRAS 10484-0153 is classified as a starburst galaxy and has a 60 micron flux of 4.51 Jy so should have been detected at radio wavelengths if it was to follow the radio-FIR correlation. The other two galaxies are predicted to be weak at radio wavelengths based on their far-IR fluxes. IRAS 05449-0651 and IRAS 15555-6610 were originally included in the COLA sample as their 60$`\mu `$m fluxes were listed as greater than 4 Jy in the IRAS Point Source Catalogue, but their fluxes in the Faint Source Catalogue fall well below 4 Jy (0.85 and 2.41 Jy respectively). These three galaxies have been excluded from the analysis which follows.

A tight correlation was seen between the radio and FIR luminosity of the southern COLA galaxies ( Fig. 2; Paper I). This correlation is well-known and is seen across many different galaxy magnitudes and types (Helou, Soifer & Rowan-Robinson, 1985; Sanders & Mirabel, 1985; Yun & Hibbard, 2001). It is often attributed to star formation in the disk of the galaxies: the FIR emission produced by dust heated by young stars and the radio emission from electrons accelerated in supernovae. Following Helou, Soifer & Rowan-Robinson (1985), we define the parameter $`q=`$ Log$`(\mathrm{S}_{\mathrm{FIR}}/\mathrm{S}_{\mathrm{radio}})`$ to quantify the relative strengths of the radio-FIR emission, where $`\mathrm{S}_{\mathrm{radio}}`$ is the total radio flux of the galaxy at 4.8GHz. Table 6 shows the mean, median and standard deviation, $`\sigma `$, of $`q`$ for the different galaxy types as classified using the K01 classification scheme. The median $`q`$ for the whole Southern COLA galaxies is 2.80$`\pm `$0.03. The 59 starburst galaxies (excluding IRAS 10484-0153 which was not detected at radio wavelengths) in our sample exhibit a tight radio-FIR correlation with a median $`q`$ = 2.83 (mean $`q`$=2.81), and a relatively small scatter ($`\sigma `$=0.2). The Seyfert galaxies (11 galaxies as IRAS 15555-6610 is now excluded) exhibit a much larger scatter ($`\sigma `$=0.49) and a significantly smaller median $`q`$ of 2.55 (mean $`q`$=2.41), indicating that the Seyfert galaxies exhibit a radio excess on the radio-FIR correlation. The Student t-Test indicates that the difference in mean $`q`$ between the two samples is significant with a probability $`<`$10-5 of being a chance occurance. Since $`q`$ is related to the radio and FIR luminosity of the galaxies and we found no correlation between the FIR luminosity and the spectral classification of the galaxies (section 5.1), we expect to find some correlation between radio luminosity and spectral classification. A Student t-Test on the data reveals that this is indeed the case as galaxies classified as Seyferts have a group average radio luminosity higher than that of starbursts, with a probability $`P`$=1.7$`\times `$10-4 of such a distribution being due to chance. Note, however, that the correlation of spectral type with $`q`$ is much stronger than that with radio luminosity.

The galaxies with ambiguous or borderline classifications exhibit similar values of $`q`$ to the starburst galaxies (mean $`q`$=2.78 $`\pm `$0.05 and 2.83$`\pm `$0.05 respectively). This result suggests that the radio emission in these galaxies is dominated by star formation-related processes, confirming the result of Roy et al. (1998).

## 6 Compact Cores versus Spectral Classification

High resolution, single baseline snapshots were obtained with the Australian LBA of 105/107 of the galaxies in the Southern COLA sample. The remaining two galaxies, of which only one is included in the sub-sample discussed in this paper (IRAS 05053-0805), were not observed due to technical difficulties. These observations, described in greater detail in Paper I, were conducted at 2.3GHz and would detect radio emission $`1.5`$mJy from structures $`0.5^{\prime \prime }`$ in size, corresponding to brightness temperatures $`>10^5`$K. Since we did not obtain LBA observations of IRAS 05053-0805 it has been excluded from the analysis which follows.

Compact radio cores were detected in 9/105 ($``$ 9%) objects observed and the detected fluxes (and upper limits for the non-detections) are given in Table 4. The cores detected ranged in luminosity from L=103.5-5.0L$`\mathrm{}`$ (7 have L$`>`$104L$`\mathrm{}`$) while the median upper limit for non-detections is L=103.78L$`\mathrm{}`$ with only 6 sources having upper limits on their core luminosity $`>10^4`$. The COLA galaxy sample was constrained to lie within a thin shell of redshift space in order to reduce any distance dependent biases. The range exhibited in detection upper limits owed as much to differences the sensitivities of the telescopes used in the course of these observations as to the spread of distances of the objects in our sample.

Six of the eleven galaxies (55%) in which we detect compact radio cores are classified optically as Seyfert galaxies while only three were detected in the 59 galaxies classified as starburst by the K01 system. The positions of the galaxies with compact cores on the optical diagnostic diagrams are shown in Fig. 3 (filled symbols) from which we can see that two of the three starburst galaxies (IRAS 09375-6951 and IRAS 13097-1531) are actually classified as borderline objects using the V95 system.

To determine whether the detection rates of compact cores in Seyferts and starburst galaxies were significantly different, we performed the following statistical analysis, assuming a binomial distribution with the detection/non-detection of a compact core as the success/failure criterion. Mindful of any biases due to e.g. different detection limits for sources, we used only those sources in which cores were detected with L$`>10^4`$L$`\mathrm{}`$ or in the case of non-detections, upper limits of L$`<10^4`$L$`\mathrm{}`$. This resulted in the elimination of 2 of the 9 sources in which compact cores were detected (one Seyfert and one starburst galaxy) and 6 of the galaxies without compact cores (4 starburst galaxies and 2 with ambiguous classifications). We further restricted our analysis to include only those galaxies for which we have obtained a spectral classification. The resultant sample contained 10 Seyferts, 53 starburst galaxies and 4 ambiguous or borderline objects. Initially the detection rate of compact cores in starburst galaxies was used to estimate the probability of detecting a compact core in a given source (2/53) assuming all galaxies have the same probability of containing a compact core, irrespective of spectral type. We found that the probability of detecting 5 cores in a sample 10 objects is $`P=1.4\times 10^5`$, indicating that the detection rate of cores in Seyferts is indeed significantly higher than that in starburst galaxies. Of course, the actual detection rate may be underestimated by using the starburst detection rate so our calculations were repeated for a detection rate of 7/67 (i.e. that of cores L$`>10^4`$L$`\mathrm{}`$ in all galaxies with a spectral classification). This time the probability of detecting 5 cores in a subset of 10 objects rose to $`0.0018`$ (still less than 0.5%) while the probability of detecting only two cores out of a subset of 53 galaxies became highly unlikely (P$`<10^5`$). It is therefore clear that Seyferts and starburst galaxies exhibit statistically different detection rates for compact radio cores.

The Seyfert galaxies with compact cores display a significant radio excess (median $`q`$=2.27) relative to the starburst galaxies without compact cores (Fig. 4) with a probability $`<10^8`$ (from the Student t-Test) that this excess is due to chance. Again these galaxies also have higher radio luminosities than the starburst galaxies (median radio power =3.8$`\times `$ 1022 W Hz-1 and 6.6$`\times `$ 1021 W Hz-1 respectively), but the significance of this (P$`10^7`$) is slightly smaller than for $`q`$. By contrast, the Seyfert galaxies without compact cores exhibit $`q`$ values and radio luminosities which are not significantly different from those displayed by the galaxies optically classified as starburst galaxies (median radio power = 5.5$`\times `$ 1021 W Hz-1, median $`q`$ = 2.79; Table 6). These results imply that the source of the radio emission in the Seyfert galaxies without cores is the same as that of the starburst galaxies - i.e. star formation in the galactic disk (e.g. Kennicutt, 1998) \- in good agreement with Roy et al. (1998). The AGN itself must contribute little to the overall radio emission in this scenario. The alternative explanation that the radio and FIR emission from the AGN without compact cores are related and scale in a similar manner as the radio and FIR emission from star formation seems somewhat improbable.

The radio emission from the radio cores detected in the Seyfert galaxies is too weak to account for their low $`q`$ values, and in Paper I we concluded that the most probable explanation is that they exhibit a radio excess due to extended structures (at the $``$ 100pc - 1kpc scale) associated with the radio cores, e.g. small-scale jets and/or radio lobes. Indeed one of the objects in which a compact radio core is detected (IRAS 13197-1627) does display an extended linear structure $``$280pc in length (Kinney et al., 2000).

Although we cannot rule out the presence of a compact radio core in the non-LBA detected Seyfert galaxies we can place an upper limit of L$`<10^{3.7}`$L$`\mathrm{}`$ on any such core. Only one of the Seyferts in which we detect a compact core (IRAS 12329-3938) has a core luminosity L$`<10^4L\mathrm{}`$ and while this source also exhibits the lowest FIR luminosity and second lowest radio luminosity of all the Seyferts (including those not detected with the LBA) it still exhibits a significant radio excess ($`q`$=2.5). The non-detection of compact cores and lack of a significant radio excess in the 5 Seyferts without cores therefore implies that not only must their radio cores (if present) be intrinsically weaker relative to their host galaxy than those in the Seyferts with cores but also that these objects lack extended radio structures.

The previous statement should not be taken to mean that the Seyfert galaxies without compact cores are “weak” AGN. From the estimated AGN contributions to the optical line ratios presented in Table 3, there is no evidence to suggest that the Seyferts with compact cores exhibit larger AGN contributions to the optical line ratios than those without (Fig. 3). Similarly, Student t-Tests on the data indicate that there are no statistically significant differences between the mean IR luminosity and colors of the Seyferts with compact cores and those without. In fact we argue that it is only at radio wavelengths that two Seyfert populations emerge; “radio excess” Seyferts, which exhibit compact radio cores and an excess of radio emission relative to their FIR luminosity, and “radio-quiet” Seyferts in which the vast majority of radio emission can be attributed to star formation in the host galaxy.

Compact cores are also detected in three galaxies classified as starbursts by the K01 system. In the Seyfert galaxies, the significant radio excess we observe suggests that their compact cores are associated with a radio jet but the origin of the compact radio emission in the starburst galaxies is not so obvious. While the presence of a high–brightness–temperature compact radio core is usually evidence of an AGN, the situation is much less certain for lower luminosity compact cores.

Significant differences do exist between previous studies of compact cores in starburst galaxies. In the South, Norris et al. (1990) detected compact ($`<0.1^{\prime \prime }`$) radio cores at 2.3 GHz in only 5% of their starburst galaxies and 32% of AGNs with $`\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{FIR}}>10^{10}\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{}}`$. With the same spatial resolution and sensitivity ($`>`$5 mJy) as the Norris et al. survey, Heisler et al. (1998) detected no compact cores in their starburst galaxies and a much larger fraction (90%) of the AGN in their survey of 60$`\mu `$m peakers. Kewley et al. (2000) found a larger fraction ($`37\%`$) of starbursts and a similar fraction (80%) of AGN-type galaxies with compact ($`<`$0.1”) cores. Some of these differences may be due to differing sensitivity limits, or to the different ways in which the parent samples were selected. The majority of the Kewley et al. starbursts have core fluxes $`<5`$ mJy and would not have been detected in the Norris et al. and Heisler et al. surveys. As mentioned in the introduction, SLL98 also carried out a VLBI study in the north and found little difference in detection rate ($`5354`$%) between optically classified AGN and starbursts (see also Lonsdale et al., 1993). The SLL98 observations generally have a higher resolution than the southern observations, and their sample contains galaxies with higher luminosities ($`\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{FIR}}>10^{11.25}\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{}}`$) – both factors that could account for the different statistics. In all the surveys, the authors were unable to rule out a SNRe origin for the low luminosity compact radio emission detected in starburst galaxies.

Our results confirm that compact cores tend to be more prevalent in galaxies with Seyfert classifications (6/11) than starburst galaxies (3/58). Of the three starburst galaxies, two of them, IRAS 13097-1531 and IRAS 09375-6951, have core radio luminosities L$`>10^4`$ L$`\mathrm{}`$, which has been taken by Kewley et al. (2000) to indicate a likely AGN rather than a SNR origin. Despite the fact that these galaxies have cool IRAS colors (see earlier discussion), they also exhibit a slight excess in the radio-FIR correlation.

Notes on the individual Seyfert galaxies in our sample and the starburst galaxies in which compact cores were detected are given in the Appendix.

## 7 Conclusions

We present optical spectroscopic observations of 93 galaxies selected from the southern portion of the COLA survey. The spectra have been used to classify the galaxies into various types based on the strength of key emission lines using both traditional semi-empirical (V95) and a new theoretically predicted (K01) diagnostic ratios. These spectroscopic diagnostics of nuclear activity are compared with other probes, such as IRAS colors and the existence of a compact radio core as a measure of activity. The following conclusions are reached:

* For the COLA (south) sample, we find that the fraction of Seyfert galaxies in the sample is independent of the diagnostic method used (16%), but that the fraction of starburst systems does depend on the choice of diagnostic. Using the V95 method, we find $``$57% are starbursts, 8% are LINERs and 19% are ambiguous or borderline, whereas under the K01 system, 77% are classified as starbursts, none are classified as LINERs and a smaller fraction (8%) fall into the ambiguous or borderline category. This is a result of model predictions which suggest that metal-rich starbursts can have emission-line ratios which place them into the phase-space occupied by LINERs in the semi-empirical diagnostic diagrams.
* The COLA sample covers only the far-IR luminosity range of normal galaxies to Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs) and falls short of sampling the ULIRG region (L$`{}_{\mathrm{IR}}{}^{}>10^{12}L\mathrm{}`$). Using the K01 classification system, our spectra suggest little change in the fraction of Seyfert galaxies relative to starbursts as a function of far-IR luminosity –in contrast to previous work. We note, however, that the narrow range of luminosities covered by our sample may not allow us to identify a weak trend in our data. Our result suggests either that there is a threshold IR luminosity above which AGNs begin to dominate the population, or that, as the galaxies become more IR luminous, there is a tendency for them to migrate into the metal-rich starburst region of the K01 diagrams, where they would become classified as LINERs in the more traditional diagnostic diagrams (thus skewing the statistics away from starbursts). We note that the COLA sample contains a high fraction of interacting systems which are known to be metal-rich in their nuclei; such a migration would be consistent with galaxies becoming IR luminous as they evolved through collisions.
* In good agreement with previous studies we find that the proportion of Seyfert galaxies in our sample increases with warmer FIR colors (S60/S25) and that Seyfert galaxies emit more flux at 25$`\mu `$m than starburst galaxies with the same IR luminosity.
* Comparison of the optical spectral types of the galaxies with the radio-FIR observations reveals that the galaxies classified optically as starbursts exhibit a tight radio-FIR correlation with little scatter and a median $`q`$ =2.83. The galaxies classified optically as Seyferts exhibit a slight (but statistically significant) radio excess on the radio-FIR correlation with a median $`q`$ =2.55 and a somewhat larger scatter.
* Compact radio cores were detected in 6/11 ($``$55%) of galaxies classified optically as Seyferts and 3/59 ($``$ 5%) of starburst galaxies. The upper limits on the detection of the compact cores in the remaining Seyferts (5/11) are between 103.5 to $`10^{3.7}`$ L$`\mathrm{}`$ indicating that their compact cores, if present, must be at the lower end of the luminosities detected (103.4–105.6 L$`\mathrm{}`$).
* All the Seyfert galaxies in which compact cores were detected lie significantly above the mean radio-FIR correlation with a median $`q`$=2.26. This radio excess is attributed to pc- to kpc-scale radio structures, because the compact radio emission is only a small part of the observed excess (see Paper I). The Seyfert galaxies without compact cores do not exhibit the same radio excess as the Seyfert galaxies with compact cores and have a similar median $`q`$ (= 2.79) to that of the starburst galaxies. This suggests the presence of two different kinds of Seyferts, “radio-excess” Seyferts (these galaxies are not formally radio loud), which exhibit radio cores and a large-scale radio structure, and “radio-quiet” Seyferts, with low luminosity radio cores and a radio continuum dominated by star formation in the host galaxy. We emphasize that both the optical strength of the AGN signature seen in the line diagnostic diagrams and the FIR color of the Seyfert galaxies is insensitive to the difference – the radio quiet Seyfert galaxies often have very dominant AGN-signatures in their optical spectra. We are currently investigating what factors might lead to these differences in the properties of the host galaxies.
* It is not clear whether the compact cores detected in the three galaxies classified optically as starbursts are obscured AGN or complexes of RSNe. They do not exhibit a significant radio excess and the luminosities of the compact cores detected (103.75 to $`10^{4.25}`$ L$`\mathrm{}`$) are consistent with either origin. This degeneracy may be resolved by VLBI or X-ray observations which could reveal the presence of a collimated pc-scale jet or a hard X-ray continuum if the cores are indeed AGN.
* Galaxies classified as ambiguous and borderline in the K01 scheme have little discernible radio excess (median $`q`$=2.78, 2.83 respectively), suggesting that they have more in common with starbursts than AGN. Since these galaxies would have been classified as LINERs on the V95 scheme, this would seem to add support to the idea that some LINER objects are metal-rich starbursts.

## 8 Acknowledgments

This paper is dedicated to Charlene Anne Heisler (deceased), who was the driving force behind this project for many years. We thank I. Wormleaton for her help with the reduction of the optical spectroscopic data. We thank S. Veilleux for his careful reading of this paper and his suggestions which have greatly improved its clarity. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It has also has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services and of the on-line NRAO VLA Sky Survey database (Condon et al. 1998). EAC is supported by the Anglo-Australian Fellowship and LK is supported by a Harvard-Smithsonian CfA Fellowship. MAD acknowledges the support of the Australian National University and the Australian Research Council through his ARC Australian Federation Fellowship, and under the ARC Discovery project DP0208445. VC would like to acknowledge the partial support of JPL contract 960803. AZ acknowledges partial support from the Chandra grants G01-2116X and G02-3150X.

## Appendix A  Notes on individual galaxies

### A.1 Seyfert glaxies in which compact radio cores were detected

* 12329-3938 (NGC 4507) (Sy2; $`q`$=2.5) is a barred spiral galaxy (SAB(s)ab; Sandage & Brucato, 1979). It is a known Sy2 galaxy (de Grijp et al., 1987; Vaceli et al., 1997). A tentative detection of a $`<0.05^{\prime \prime }`$ core at 1.6 mJy ($`10^{3.4}`$ L$`\mathrm{}`$) was reported in Paper I, making this source the lowest luminosity core detection in the sample.
* IRAS 13197-1627 (Sy1.8; $`q`$=1.85) is a known Seyfert galaxy (de Grijp et al., 1985) and is classified as a Seyfert 1.8 by Aguero et al. (1994). The narrow emission lines in this object are unusually broad (FWHM of \[OIII\]$`\lambda `$5007 $``$1000kms-1, FWHM of \[NII\]$`\lambda `$5007 $``$700kms-1) but symmetrical. Evidence of a broad H$`\alpha `$ line is seen in our spectra but the H$`\beta `$ line has a similar width to the \[OIII\] lines. It has a tentative morphological classification in in the NASA Extra-galactic Database (NED) as a barred spiral galaxy. A compact ($`<`$ 0.05”) core of 8.9 mJy was reported in Paper I and VLA observations at 4.8GHz by Kinney et al. (2000) have revealed a linear structure extending about 278pc from the core, believed to be a synchrotron jet. IRAS 13197-1627 exhibits one of the lowest values of $`q`$ in our sample. This radio excess remains after subtraction of the compact core emission and is probably due, at least in part, to emission from the $``$ 300 pc-scale radio jet.
* IRAS 14544-4255 (IC4518A) (Sy2; $`q`$=2.4) is one of a pair of strongly interacting galaxies (Condon et al., 1996) and has not been previously identified as a Seyfert galaxy. This source exhibits a large radio excess and the 3.77 mJy (104.1L$`\mathrm{}`$) compact radio core (Paper I) contributes only 3.5% of the total radio emission.
* IRAS 14566-1629 (NGC 5793) (Sy2;$`q`$=1.28) has an Sb classification (NED) and is one of a pair of galaxies. VLBI observations of this source have detected a compact nucleus ($`0.016^{\prime \prime }`$) which is extended parallel to the minor axis of the galaxy (Gardner, 1992). There is also some evidence for a water maser with a diameter larger than 20pc (Hagiwara et al., 1997). It is a known Seyfert 2 (Baan et al., 1998) and exhibits both the largest radio excess and the brightest radio core (105.6L$`\mathrm{}`$) of the galaxies in our sample (Paper I), accounting for 30% of the observed radio flux. This source exhibits the coolest FIR colours of the Seyferts in our sample ($`S_{60}/S_{25}`$=10.5) presumably indicating that star formation dominates the IR spectrum but not at optical or radio wavelengths.
* IRAS 19543-3804 (Sy2; $`q`$=2.13) is classified as a spiral galaxy (Sb or IrS) in a cluster. A compact ($`<`$0.05”) core was detected with a flux of 23.4 mJy ($`10^{4.9}\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{}}`$; Paper I) . This core is one of the brightest we detect and accounts for 32% of the total radio luminosity at 2.3 GHz. This source exhibits a large radio excess and subtraction of the compact core reduces the radio excess to $``$ 40%.
* IRAS 21453-3511 (NGC7130, IC5135) (Sy2; $`q`$=2.55) is a known AGN, identified by Phillips et al. (1983) as a Seyfert 2 active nucleus surrounded by a starburst ring. Observations by Thuan (1984) further showed that the starburst dominates the galaxy emission, contributing 75% of the emission in the UV. Its optical emission line ratios have confirmed its AGN classification but it falls on the borderline between the Sy2 and LINER classes with Veilleux et al. (1995) classifying it as a LINER while both Heisler et al. (1997) and Vaceli et al. (1997) classify it as a Seyfert 2. We also classify it as a Seyfert 2 and it is possible that the differences between the classifications reflect differing contributions from the starburst emission in the slit.

A 4.7 mJy ($`10^{4.1}`$ $`\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{}}`$) core was detected in IRAS 21453-3511 (Paper I) and the 4.8 GHz luminosity of the galaxy is nearly twice that predicted from the FIR luminosity. Heisler et al. (1997) measured a compact core flux at 2.3 GHz of 14 mJy using the PTI baseline with a resolution of $`0.1^{\prime \prime }`$, twice that of ours, which implies that the source has compact radio structures between 25-50pc in size which we have resolved out. These structures could be associated with a radio jet. Alternatively, the difference between the PTI flux and our measurements could be due to intrinsic variability of the compact core.

### A.2 Seyfert galaxies in which compact cores were not detected

* IRAS 03022-1232 (NGC 1204) (Sy2; $`q`$=2.87) was classified as a LINER galaxy by V95 with log(OIII/H$`\beta `$)=0.47. We measure log(OIII/H$`\beta `$)=0.48 classifying it as a Sy2, but in any case it clearly lies on the border between the LINER and Seyfert classes in the V95 system. It has an SO/a morphology (NED). No compact radio core was detected ($`<`$ 1.8mJy; Paper I), indicating that any radio core must have a luminosity $`<`$ 103.6L$`\mathrm{}`$. This source does not exhibit a radio excess indicating that the radio continuum is probably dominated by star formation.
* IRAS 04461-0624 (NGC1667) (Sy2; $`q`$=2.63) is a known Seyfert galaxy (Phillips et al., 1983). Although it appears that H$`\alpha `$ is slightly broadened in our spectrum, we find that both the \[NII\] emission lines are broadened in a similar fashion (this was also seen by Ho et al. (1997a)) and we therefore conclude that no broad emission line component is visible. Spectropolarimetric observations of this source (Tran et al., 2001) have not revealed a hidden broad line region in this object. Thean et al. (2000) measure a compact core ($`<0.3^{\prime \prime }`$) with a 4.8GHz flux of 1.5 mJy but we detected no compact radio ($`<0.05^{\prime \prime }`$) core ($`<`$ 1.6mJy; Paper I) indicating that any radio core must have a luminosity $`<`$ 103.7L$`\mathrm{}`$. Since one would expect it to be brighter at 2.3GHz than at 4.8GHz (assuming a spectral index of 0.7), our non-detection of a core implies that the core is either larger than $`<0.05^{\prime \prime }`$ and hence much of the flux is resolved out or has a flat spectral index. This source is one of the two Seyfert galaxies with cool FIR colours ($`S_{60}/S_{25}`$=8.8)
* IRAS 13035-4008 (ESO 323-G77) (Sy1; $`q`$=2.79) is a known Seyfert 1 galaxy (Fairall, 1986) and is classified in NED as a barred spiral galaxy. Broad emission lines are clearly visible in both H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$. No compact radio core was detected ($`<`$ 1.3 mJy; Paper I ) indicating that any radio core must have a luminosity $`<`$ 103.5L$`\mathrm{}`$. This source does not exhibit a radio excess indicating that the radio continuum is probably dominated by star formation.
* IRAS 13229-2934 (NGC5135) (Sy2; $`q`$=2.55) is a known Sy2 galaxy (Phillips et al., 1983) and has barred spiral morphology (NED). No compact radio ($`<0.05^{\prime \prime }`$) core was detected ($`<`$ 1.5 mJy; Paper I) indicating that any radio core must have a luminosity $`<`$ 103.5L$`\mathrm{}`$. This source was also observed by Thean et al. (2000) who failed to detect compact radio emission from the nucleus. IRAS 13229-2934 does exhibit a similar radio excess to IRAS 21453-3511 which may be due to the extended structure and radio lobes detected by Bransford et al (1998) and Thean et al. (2000).
* IRAS 18429-6312 (Sy2; $`q`$=2.92) is a known Sy2 galaxy (Fairall, 1979) and has an SB morphology (NED). No compact radio core was detected ($`<`$ 1.8 mJy ) indicating that any radio core must have a luminosity $`<`$ 103.7L$`\mathrm{}`$. This source exhibits a radio deficit indicating that the radio continuum is dominated by star formation.

### A.3 Non-Seyfert galaxies in which compact cores were detected

* IRAS 09375-6951 (HII; q=2.61) is classified in the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED) as an irregular spiral galaxy. We classify this object as a starburst using the K01 scheme and a borderline or composite object (e.g. Hill et al., 1999; Barth & Shields, 2000). A compact ($`<0.05^{\prime \prime }`$) core was detected with a flux of 3.6 mJy ($`10^{4.25}\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{}}`$; Paper I) which contributes 13% of the total radio emission. IRAS 09375-6951 could either contain an AGN which is obscured at optical wavelengths or a complex of supernovae remnants (e.g. Arp220; Smith et al. 1998b). As discussed in Section 2.2.2, Kewley et al. (2000) found that the sources they believed to be complexes of SNR tended to have compact cores with luminosities of $`<10^4\mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{}}`$. The $`0.05^{\prime \prime }`$ compact core in IRAS 09375- 6951 has a luminosity which would place it among the AGN rather than the starburst galaxies.
* IRAS 13135-2801 (NGC 5051) (HII; $`q`$=2.91) is an SA(rs)b galaxy with a nuclear ring (Buta, 1995). We detect a compact core in both polarizations at the level of 2.2 mJy ($`10^{3.75}`$ L$`\mathrm{}`$). This is the only object with a compact radio core which exhibits a deficit in radio flux, emitting 17% less radio flux than would be predicted from the FIR luminosity. The optical line ratios exhibited by this galaxy place it in the starburst of HII regime. The low luminosity of the radio core combined with the optical spectroscopic classification means that it is highly possible that we have detected a complex of radio supernovae in this object rather than an AGN.
* IRAS 13097-1531 (NGC 1510) (HII; $`q`$=2.75) is an S0 (or peculiar spiral) and is known to contain an OH megamaser (Martin et al., 1989). It has been classified from optical spectra as a “composite object” by Baan et al. (1998) (who used a similar classification system to V95) and our own observations show that it lies close to the AGN/HII region partition in the V95 classification system. Under the K01 classification system it is classified as a starburst (HII) galaxy. A compact radio core at the level of 2.5 mJy was detected (Paper I). IRAS 13097-1531 is similar to IRAS 09375-6951 in that the optical classification is ambiguous but the radio luminosity of the core is $`10^{4.14}`$ L$`\mathrm{}`$, brighter than would be expected for the supernova complexes.


text:
# Dielectric constant of glasses: first observation of a two-dimensional behavior.

## Abstract

The $`1`$kHz real part $`\chi ^{}`$ of the dielectric constant of a structural glass was measured at low temperature $`T`$ down to $`14`$ mK. Reducing the sample thickness $`h`$ to $`10`$ nm suppresses the usual minimum of $`\chi ^{}`$ for measuring fields $`E<.5`$ MV/m. This contradicts the Two Level System (TLS) model but is well accounted for by including TLS-TLS interactions where excitations delocalize between TLS’s through a $`E`$-induced mechanism recently designed: for small $`h`$’s this interaction is reduced, which explains the two-dimensional behavior of $`\chi ^{}(T)`$. Hence, interactions play a key role in standard thick samples.

Since the 1970’s amorphous solids have been widely investigated at low temperature $`T`$ Philipps , and their properties turned out to be both ”universal” (i.e. quasi independent from the chemical composition) and strongly different from their crystalline counterparts. This is explained within the tunneling two-level system (TLS) model Anderson  where some atomic species fluctuate between two neighboring energy minima separated by a potential barrier, which, at low $`T`$ is crossed by Tunneling.

Even if the low density of glasses (in comparison with their crystalline counterpart) may justify Lock  the existence of ”voids” and thus the TLS framework, the ability of the standard TLS model, where the TLS’s do not mutually interact, to account for experiments seems very intriguing. Indeed, drawing from measurements the coupling strength of a TLS to phonons, one finds Joffrin  that TLS’s are strongly coupled to each other via virtual phonons: a tunnel transition on a given TLS deforms elastically the neighboring matrix, yielding an energy change of $`U1/r^3`$ for a TLS located at a distance $`r`$, and for two neighboring TLS’s Neu  one gets $`U(r=1`$ nm$`)10`$ K. Similarly, since many TLS’s are charged, they interact through dipolar interaction, mediated by virtual photons, yielding an interaction energy Neu  in the same range of $`10`$ K between neighboring TLS’s. This large energy scale contrasts with the weakness of the rare experimental evidences of TLS’s interactions: in the $`100`$ mK range, only small instationarities Carruzzo , and unexpected small $`H`$ effects Strehlow , on the kHz dielectric susceptibility $`\chi `$ have been related to interactions. In the few mK range, somewhat larger effects, such as the ultra-low-$`T`$ plateau Enss  in the dielectric constant, and the internal friction behavior Thompson , were explained with interactions.

This work yields strong evidence of the key role of TLS’s interactions in the $`100`$ mK range. Indeed, we show that reducing the thickness $`h`$ of glassy samples down to $`10`$ nm strongly affects the real part $`\chi ^{}`$ of the $`1`$ kHz dielectric constant: the $`\chi ^{}(T)`$ minimum, which occurs at a given $`T_{rev}`$ for $`h>100`$ nm, is progressively moved to lower $`T`$ as $`h`$ is decreased, and finally disappears for $`h10`$ nm. This new $`\chi ^{}(T)`$ behavior contradicts the non interacting TLS model and evidences the role of TLS’s interactions, since the latter are strongly reduced at small $`h`$’s, as we shall see. Within the spectrum of theories dealing with interactions in the TLS model, ranging from the one stating that interactions are renormalized to zero by frustration Coppersmith , to the one assuming that interactions supersede disorder Wurger , the mechanism proposed by Burin et al. Burin  will prove to account for the reported data, once included in numerical simulations of $`\chi ^{}`$ LecochecNL .

The samples were all produced similarly: on a vitreous $`a`$-SiO2 $`0.1`$ mm thick substrate, a Cu/glass/Cu/glass structure was deposited, by using a multi chamber system excluding exposure to air during the whole process LecochecH . The $`15`$ nm thick Cu electrodes were evaporated ($`.1`$nm/s), while the glass layers were made from TetraEthylOrthoSilane with a $`13`$ MHz vapor plasma where the autopolarisation was set at $`100`$ V, the incoming flux at $`2`$ sccm, and the pressure at $`0.80`$ Pa. The resulting glass deposition rate was $`.1`$ nm/s, allowing to set the thickness $`h`$ of the internal glass layer by choosing the deposition time. Since the $`h`$ value is crucial, it was further measured by three other methods which all gave compatible results:  i) in situ laser interferometry was realized onto a Si substrate placed close to the sample during the glass deposition;  ii) the glass layer (the one grown onto the Si substrate) was irradiated by a deuton $`.91`$ MeV beam allowing, through the nuclear reaction on 16O, an $`h`$ estimate;  iii) the value of the capacitance $`C\chi ^{}`$ was checked to scale with the expected $`h`$. The $`15`$ nm thick top glass layer hinders any spurious atmospheric effect during the cryogenic experiment. The sample was glued inside a copper box connected to the mixing chamber of the 3He/4He dilution refrigerator. Semi-rigid coaxial shielding was ensured from the cold copper box up to the $`2500`$-Andeen capacitance bridge. A capacitance $`c_F`$, twice larger than that of the sample, was set in parallel of each cable, so as to filter high frequency parasitic fields: the data were unchanged when $`c_F`$ was halved, proving the filtering efficiency.

The $`\chi ^{}(T,E)`$ behavior of six samples, whose $`h`$ ranges from $`12`$ nm to $`800`$ nm, are reported in Figs. 1-3, where $`\delta C(T)=C(T)C(0.5`$ K$`)`$ and $`\delta C_{max}=C(0.5`$ K$`)C_{min}`$ while $`C_{min}`$ is the minimum value of $`C`$ in our $`T`$ experimental range $`[14`$ mK$`;0.5`$ K$`]`$. Fig. 1 shows that, for a given measuring field $`E=40`$ kV/m, the temperature $`T_{rev}`$, where $`\chi ^{}(T)`$ is minimum, gradually moves towards lower values as $`h`$ is decreased. For the thinnest sample, the minimum is suppressed at $`E=40`$ kV/m, and instead of the usual $`\delta C(T)\pm \mathrm{ln}T`$ valid for thicker samples (as well as for all previously studied glasses Rogge ), one gets $`\delta C(T)T^\alpha `$ where $`\alpha `$ turns from $`1.35\pm .15`$ above $`70`$ mK to $`2.75\pm .4`$ below. Fig. 2 shows first that this trend of lowering $`T_{rev}`$ when decreasing $`h`$ holds for all $`E`$ (except for the very few cases $`E1`$ MV/m where some heating arises, see below); and secondly that this $`T_{rev}(h)`$ decrease only occurs for $`h<100`$ nm since the $`200`$ nm and $`800`$ nm samples behave similarly. Last, Fig. 3 shows, for the smallest $`h`$, that a minimum of $`\chi ^{}(T)`$ is recovered when $`E1`$ MV/m, and that the value of the slope below $`T_{rev}`$ is weakened beside that of thick samples.

These new trends for $`\chi ^{}(T,E,h)`$ are intrinsic to the glassy state, as we shall see by showing that they come neither from a heating effect, nor from a variation of the glass composition with $`h`$:

i) the $`E`$-induced dissipated power $`𝒫`$ might heat the sample to a temperature above the measured $`T`$. Since the thermal conductances decrease as $`T`$ decreases, heating, at a given $`E`$, increases at low $`T`$, i.e. it is expected to stretch the $`\chi ^{}(T)`$ curve by an amount increasing as $`T`$ is lowered. Thus, one might wonder whether the data of Figs 1-2 are due to heating or not. This explanation is ruled out since, with $`Rh`$ the parallel resistance of the sample, one has $`𝒫=E^2h^2/RE^2h`$, i.e. $`𝒫`$ increases with $`h`$ at a given $`E`$. Thus, if the data of Figs. 1-2 were mainly due to heating, $`T_{rev}`$ would decrease for thick samples, at odds with Fig. 1. In fact, heating effects are clearly visible only for the two thickest samples and for the strongest $`E`$: $`T_{rev}`$ is slightly lower at $`E=2`$ MV/m than at $`E=1`$ MV/m. Assuming that, above the linear regime, i.e. when $`E`$ is high enough to yield a $`T_{rev}(E)`$ increase, the law $`T_{rev}E^{1/2}`$ is obeyed (see below), one can extract the thermal resistance $``$ from the difference, increasing with $`E`$, between this law and the measured $`T_{rev}`$. From the two thickest samples one gets $`50`$ MK/W at $`100`$ mK, with a $`T^3`$ behavior, as expected for boundary Kapitza resistances.

ii) Besides, one may imagine that the data of Figs. 1-3 come from the fact that the glass composition depends on $`h`$, even for a given set of plasma parameters: due to a possible mixing of the plasma incoming particules and of the Cu of the first electrode, one may argue that the samples contain a ”boundary” layer, of thickness $`b_0`$, whose chemical composition strongly differs of the rest of the glass (of thickness $`hb_0`$). Since the value of $`T_{rev}`$ slightly depends on the glass composition Rogge , one may wonder whether this could explain the reported data. This is not the case. First because the $`T`$ dependence of $`\delta C(T)`$ is totally new for $`h=12`$ nm: $`\delta C(T)T^\alpha `$, clearly differs from the usual $`\delta C(T)\pm \mathrm{ln}T`$ behavior holding both for our thicker samples and for all the previously studied samples Rogge  whatever their chemical composition. Secondly, this scenario leads to add the admittances of the two consecutive dielectrics, with the $`\chi ^{}`$ of the boundary layer given by the $`12`$ nm thick sample, and that of the second dielectric by the $`h>100`$ nm samples. Applying this method for the $`24`$ nm thick sample, at $`E=40`$ kV/m, one finds first that $`T_{rev}`$ is halved in comparison with thick samples, as observed on Fig. 2; and secondly that $`\delta C(T)`$ should be dominated by far by the $`T^\alpha `$ behavior, which is clearly contradicted by Fig. 1 where the $`\mathrm{ln}T`$ trend holds for the $`24`$ nm thick sample.

At this step, it is clear that decreasing $`h`$ qualitatively changes the physics of the glass sample. This contradicts the standard (i.e. non interacting) TLS model which accounts for the decrease of $`\chi ^{}`$ above $`T_{rev}`$ by the progressive freezing of the diagonal (or relaxationnal) part $`\chi _z^{}`$ of the susceptibility, while the $`\chi ^{}`$ increase below $`T_{rev}`$ comes from the off-diagonal (or resonnant) part $`\chi _x^{}`$: due to its pure quantum nature, $`\chi _x^{}`$ grows when $`T`$ decreases, as do all quantum effects. Within this framework, the TLS’s interactions are assumed to be so small that they only enter in the phase coherence time $`\tau _2`$ setting the scale over which $`\chi _x^{}`$ relaxes towards its thermodynamic value. Since decreasing $`h`$ reduces TLS’s interactions (see below), one expects qualitatively larger $`\tau _2`$ in thin samples, reinforcing somehow $`\chi _x^{}`$, which is at odds with Figs.1-2. Quantitatively, in usual thick samples $`\tau _210\mu `$s in the $`20`$ mK range, i.e. its value is so large that the associated quantum energy $`\tau _2^1`$ is as low as $`1\mu `$K, much smaller than any relevant energy scale, which explains that $`\chi _x^{}`$ does basically not depend on $`\tau _2`$. Thus, no $`h`$ effect can be explained within the standard TLS model.

Besides, another serious limit of the standard TLS model, discovered very recently LecochecNL , is that it does not account for the nonlinear $`\chi ^{}(T,E)`$ usually reported (such as those of our $`h>100`$ nm samples and those of Ref. Rogge ). Indeed, due to the quantum nature of $`\chi ^{}`$ below $`T_{rev}`$, $`\chi ^{}`$ is strongly depressed by a strong measuring electric field $`E`$ at a given $`T`$. This is due to the quantum saturation phenomenon coming from the fact that increasing $`E`$ decreases the population difference between the two energy levels: as the Rabi oscillations produced by $`E`$ on the upper level are in phase opposition with respect to those produced on the ground level, the quantum response, once averaged on many independent TLS’s, tends to zero when $`E`$ is increased. This was checked by solving numerically the Bloch equations of TLS’s LecochecNL  with a non perturbative method (see the dotted lines in Fig. 4).

Both the nonlinear measurements as well as the $`h`$ effect on $`\chi ^{}`$ can be accounted for by using the same $`E`$-induced TLS-TLS interaction proposed by Burin et al. Burin  where thermal excitations, which are at zero-field localized on each TLS, tend to delocalize by hopping to resonant nearest neighbors. This is due to the fact that resonant hopping demands that both TLS’s should have approximately the same asymmetry energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and the same tunneling energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$: as the electrical field modulates the TLS parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, the probability of finding, for a given TLS, a resonant TLS, increases from a negligible value at very low $`E`$, to a non-negligible value above at higher $`E`$. Since this mechanism transports energy, it mainly enhances the diagonal part $`\chi _z^{}`$ of the susceptibility (by decreasing the associated relaxation time $`\tau _1`$), and since it gets stronger as $`T`$ decreases it yields the trend shown in Fig. 4 by the solid curves: in this picture, $`\chi ^{}`$ mainly comes from $`\chi _z^{}`$ which dominates, at any $`T`$, over the off diagonal part $`\chi _x^{}`$ (the latter being still depressed by the $`E`$ values used in experiments). With $`\tau _1T/\sqrt{E}`$, see Ref. LecochecNL , Neu , Burin’s mechanism is essential at low $`T`$, and is responsible for the $`\chi ^{}(T)`$ increase below $`T_{rev}`$ when $`\omega \tau _1`$ becomes smaller than unity, with $`\omega `$ the frequency of $`E`$. This yields $`T_{rev}\sqrt{E}`$, as seen on Fig. 2.

In this picture, $`h`$ effects on $`\chi ^{}`$ are due to the two mechanisms reducing TLS’s interactions at small $`h`$’s. First, due to the usual density of states Philipps , if $`w`$ is the maximum energy separating the gaps of two interacting TLS’s, they are separated by the distance $`\lambda w^{1/3}`$ only while $`\lambda <h`$. For thin samples $`h<\lambda `$, the decrease of available TLS’s yields $`\lambda w^{1/2}`$ and enlarges $`\lambda `$, reducing TLS’s interactions $`U\lambda ^3`$. This applies both to the elastic part of $`U`$ where Neu  one has $`wT`$, and to the dipolar part of $`U`$ where Burin’s mechanism states $`w=e_{dip}=pE/ϵ_r`$ with $`p1`$ D the TLS dipole and $`ϵ_r5`$ the glass dielectric constant Carruzzo , Rogge . Secondly, dipolar interactions are further note  reduced by the screening effect in the electrodes: if $`h<\lambda `$ their numerous electrons intercept and cancel the electric field yielding the interaction between TLS’s, which sharply decreases $`U`$.

Finally, for $`E=40kV/m`$ one gets $`e_{dip}=10`$ mK, not far from the $`T`$ range where the $`\chi ^{}(h)`$ effects occur in Figs 1-2. Whatever $`w=T`$ or $`w=e_{dip}`$, the order of magnitude of $`\lambda (w)`$ is near $`60`$ nm for thick samples: this is consistent with the thickness where the $`\chi ^{}(h)`$ effects occur in Figs. 1-2. Since TLS’s interactions bring about the $`\chi ^{}(T<T_{rev})`$ behavior, their suppression at small $`h`$’s should yield a $`\chi ^{}(T)`$ curve given by the standard non interacting TLS model: as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 4, this amounts to suppressing the $`\chi ^{}(T)`$ minimum, as in Fig. 1 for $`h=12`$ nm, due to the $`E`$-induced strong depression of $`\chi _x^{}`$ for the $`E>40`$ kV/m experimental fields.

Besides, due to the $`E`$-induced modulation of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, in Burin et al.’s scenario $`\lambda `$ decreases at strong $`E`$, opening the possibility to recover a $`\lambda <h`$ case at strong $`E`$: this would account for Fig. 3 where, even for $`h=12`$ nm, one recovers a minimum for $`\chi ^{}(T)`$.

In conclusion, decreasing the thickness of glass samples down to the $`10`$ nm range changes the physics of the real part of the kHz dielectric susceptibility. This strongly evidences the key role of TLS’s interactions up to $`100`$ mK. Assuming that TLS’s interactions occur via a $`E`$-induced delocalisation of excitations between quasi similar TLS’s accounts for the main features of the reported data.

Many thanks to M. Ocio and E. Vincent for lending us their cryostat and to L. Le Pape for experimental support. A special thank to J.-Y. Prieur and J. Joffrin (CNRS, Orsay) for the really encouraging scientific discussions we had, and to D.L’Hôte for experimental help.