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# Emission and Absorption in the M87 LINERBased on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

## 1 Introduction

A large fraction of nearby galaxies harbor low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs; e.g., Heckman 1980; Ho, Filippenko, & Sargent 1997). A variety of mechanisms have been suggested for the underlying power source in these objects, including shocks, black hole accretion, and hot stars. LINER case studies have revealed candidate prototypes for each of these phenomena, strengthening speculation that LINERs are a heterogeneous class (e.g., Filippenko 1996).

The LINER galaxy M87 is a particularly interesting example. Ground-based optical spectra of its nucleus show narrow-line emission with a complex velocity profile, but no clear signature of the broad permitted lines that are the hallmark of quasar activity. Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) reveal a spatially resolved disk of emission at the nucleus, and analysis of emission from the disk provides strong evidence of shock excitation (Dopita et al. 1997, hereafter D97). Considered alone, these properties give little indication that the system is related to luminous AGNs; yet this object provides one of the best cases for accretion-powered activity in the nucleus of a galaxy. The evidence takes the form of its famous synchrotron jet (e.g., Boksenberg et al. 1992; Bicknell & Begelman 1996) and a velocity field in the nuclear gas disk requiring the presence of a central dark object with a mass of $`3.2\times 10^9`$ M (Ford et al. 1994; Harms et al. 1994; Macchetto et al. 1997).

One possible interpretation of the existing results for M87 is that LINER emission is caused primarily by shocks, even when coexistent with an accretion power source that may generate substantial ionizing radiation. This scenario contrasts markedly with the behavior of Seyfert galaxies, which have narrow-line emission powered primarily by photoionization (e.g., Laor 1998). Moreover, the evidence for shocks in the M87 disk comes from ultraviolet emission-line ratios, but the same diagnostics observed in a handful of other LINERs do not provide similar indications of mechanical heating (e.g., Barth et al. 1996, 1997; Maoz et al. 1998). The latter finding may imply that the LINER in M87 is an anomaly; however, another possibility is that the uncharacteristic result for this source reflects the unusual circumstance that its central nebulosity is resolved, and the previous HST study considered emission from only a part of the disk that did not include the nucleus per se. In order to understand fully the nature of the nebulosity at the center of M87, and to assess the larger implications for LINERs, measurement of the UV/optical spectrum of the nucleus is clearly desirable. In this paper we present the results of spectroscopic observations carried out with HST for this purpose.

## 2 Observation and Data Analysis

Long-slit spectra of the nucleus of M87 were obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on 1999 February 1 UT, using the 52″$`\times `$ 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 aperture and the gratings listed in Table 1. The slit was oriented at position angles $`216\mathrm{°}`$ and $`240\mathrm{°}`$ for the optical (CCD) and UV (MAMA) data, respectively. (The difference in position angle resulted unintentionally from a roll-angle adjustment during the observation sequence.) The resulting spectra provide continuous wavelength coverage of the nucleus in the range $`115010270`$ Å. The relatively large slit width leads to rather low spectral resolution (see Table 1) but was selected in order to maximize the measured signal in the UV bandpass, while maintaining a uniform aperture dimension across the entire spectrum. The full-width at half maximum (FWHM) spatial resolution is $`0\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}05`$ for the MAMAs, and $`0\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}12`$ for the CCDs. The data were calibrated “On-The-Fly” upon retrieval from the data archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute. All data reduction and analysis was performed with IRAF111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.. With this slit width, geocoronal Ly$`\alpha `$ is blended with the redshifted Ly$`\alpha `$ from M87. We measured the background geocoronal emission in the G140L spectrum near the ends of the slit, and subtracted the result from each row of the two-dimensional spectrum, making sure that we also propagate errors in the correct way.

Spectra of the nucleus were extracted for an aperture size of $`0\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}25`$ along the slit (i.e., 10 MAMA pixels and 5 CCD pixels, corresponding to approximately twice the spatial FWHM for the CCD). The result is shown in Figure 1. In order to aid in removing any underlying galaxy starlight, we generated a stellar continuum template by averaging the spectra of off-nucleus regions that were emission-free. The resulting aperture was $`10\mathrm{}`$ ($`5\mathrm{}`$ for UV spectra) wide and centered at $`7\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}5`$ ($`3\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}75`$ for UV spectra) southwest of the nucleus. Emission from the nebular disk at these scales is negligible within our aperture, in comparison with that measured from the nucleus. HST images show a rapid fall-off of nebular surface brightness with radius (e.g., D97). In contrast with the FOS study reported by D97, which measured the spectrum 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$6 from the nucleus with a 1$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$0 aperture, the data reported here employ a narrower slit, and consequently do not exhibit a signal-to-noise ratio sufficient to measure nebular features outside the central aperture defined above.

We measured the fluxes of the emission features while simultaneously fitting the continuum, via $`\chi ^2`$ minimization, using SPECFIT as implemented in IRAF (Kriss 1994). We fitted Gaussians to the emission lines, and represented the continuum as the sum of a featureless power law and the galaxy template. The results of the measurements are given in Table 2. In all cases, the fit results were consistent with the continuum being dominated by the power-law component. Errors were evaluated by SPECFIT from the accompanying error extensions to the spectra. The FWHM velocity for H$`\beta `$ is $`2100`$ km s-1, after correcting for the instrumental profile for a point source, and $`900`$ km s-1 if the emission is extended uniformly across the slit; the latter value can thus be taken as a lower limit. Due to the significant intrinsic velocity width and the low spectral resolution, H$`\alpha `$ was heavily blended with \[N II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6548, 6583, and the \[S II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6717, 6731 lines were also heavily blended with each other; no attempt was made at deblending these composite features, which we instead fit by single Gaussians. The width and redshift of the \[O I\] $`\lambda `$6364 template were linked to those of \[O I\] $`\lambda `$6300 and, as dictated by atomic physics (Osterbrock 1989), \[O I\] $`\lambda \lambda 6300/6364=3.0`$. The same procedure was followed for \[O III\] $`\lambda \lambda `$4959, 5007.

A joint analysis of the optical and UV spectra is potentially sensitive to reddening. The fact that H$`\alpha `$ was heavily blended with the \[N II\] lines makes it impossible to get a direct measure of reddening using the H$`\alpha `$/H$`\beta `$ ratio. Moreover, H$`\delta `$ is blended with \[S II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$4069, 4076, and H$`\gamma `$ leads to unphysical extinction values when combined with H$`\beta `$; this may be due to an overestimate of the H$`\gamma `$ flux caused by blended emission in \[O III\] $`\lambda `$4363. Our spectral range includes the recombination lines He II $`\lambda `$4686 and He II $`\lambda `$1640. For Case B recombination, the ratio He II $`\lambda \lambda 1640/46867`$ (Hummer & Storey 1987). Our spectra set a $`3\sigma `$ upper limit on He II $`\lambda `$4686 of 20% of H$`\beta `$. This limit is calculated according to the formula $`3\sqrt{2\pi }\sigma _c`$(14Å), where $`\sigma _c`$ is the root-mean-square uncertainty per Ångstrom in the local continuum, and 14 Å is the measured Gaussian dispersion of the H$`\beta `$ profile. (This prescription corresponds to a Gaussian profile with amplitude $`3\sigma _c`$.) The result is (He II $`\lambda \lambda 1640/4686)_{observed}>2.0`$. Employing the extinction curve of Cardelli, Clayton, & Mathis (1989), we find that $`A_V<2.4`$ mag. The Galactic foreground extinction toward M87 is expected to be much less than this value, and independent estimates of the total absorption (§3) suggest that the Galactic component dominates the total extinction, with $`A_V0.15`$ mag.

Additional spectra of the nucleus of M87 spanning 1140 – 6820 Å were obtained on 1996 July 2 UT with the FOS, using the 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$21 aperture (Table 1). The calibrated data were obtained from the public domain archive. We measured the emission lines as for the STIS spectra, assuming a power-law form for the continuum. Uncertainties in the line fluxes are generally larger for the FOS observations, reflecting a somewhat lower signal-to-noise ratio. Measurements from the two spectra are in general agreement although significant differences are present in Ly$`\alpha `$, which may be affected by uncertain geocoronal subtraction for the FOS spectrum, and \[Ne III\] $`\lambda `$3869.

In addition to emission lines, there is a wealth of UV absorption features seen in the spectra. The velocity shifts of some lines are consistent with absorption within the Galaxy, while others appear associated with M87. We used spectra with the highest spectral resolution for our absorption-line measurements. Table 1 shows that all the FOS gratings have higher spectral resolution than those employed with STIS, except for FOS G160L, which has a lower resolution than STIS G140L. The absorption lines in the FOS spectra segregate into two systems distinguished by their line widths; those with FWHM $``$ 200 km s-1 are of Galactic origin (and are unresolved), while those with FWHM $``$ 400 km s-1 are intrinsic to M87, where the FWHM values quoted here have not been corrected for the instrument profile of FWHM$`=230`$ km s-1. The absorption lines in the STIS G140L have FWHM $`400`$ km s-1, uncorrected for the line-spread function of FWHM $`=190`$ km s-1 for a point source; the velocity widths of many features in this spectrum are potentially affected by blends. Identification of features was based on wavelength correspondence with line lists from Verner, Barthel, & Tytler (1994), and consistency tests with the measured line strengths or upper limits for resonance features from the same ions.

The STIS and FOS observations are separated by $`2.6`$ years. The equivalent widths of the absorption lines agree to within the measurement errors. The continuum level in the FOS spectrum is higher by 20%, with greater contrast at shorter wavelength. Tsvetanov et al. (1998) discussed variability in the optical continuum during 1994 and 1995, and found differences of a factor of $`2`$ on a timescale of 2.5 months, so variability is clearly a concern when comparing measurements from different epochs.

## 3 Results and Interpretation

The physical interpretation of nebular emission in LINERs is complicated by the fact that several different energy sources may give rise to such emission. Theoretical predictions of optical lines are degenerate in the sense that the same line ratios can be explained equally well by more than one physical scenario, including in particular shocks and photoionization (e.g., D97; Allen, Dopita, & Tsvetanov 1998). Allen et al. (1998) have suggested that the inclusion of ultraviolet emission diagnostics provides a basis for distinguishing between shocks and photoionization, and UV emission lines figure prominently in the analysis by D97 implicating shocks in the extended nuclear disk in M87. In the present study we extend this analysis to the interpretation of the emission of nuclear emission as measured in the central $`0\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}5`$, corresponding to $`39`$ pc (for an assumed distance of 16.1 Mpc; Tonry et al. 2001).

### 3.1 Line Ratio Diagrams and the Excitation Mechanism

Comparisons of our measurements with theoretical predictions are presented in two-dimensional line ratio diagrams in Figure 2, which employs optical and UV lines, and Figure 3, which uses exclusively UV lines. These diagrams are selected from those shown by D97 and Allen et al. (1998) to hold promise for distinguishing ionization processes. In addition to our STIS results, line ratios from the FOS spectra of the nucleus (our measurements) and of the ionized disk (D97) are also shown. The diagrams involve intensity ratios of lines close in wavelength, so that they are relatively insensitive to reddening; the plotted data points have consequently not been corrected for reddening.

Predictions for several excitation mechanisms are overplotted in Figures 2 and 3. Predicted ratios for shock excitation are taken from Dopita & Sutherland (1995); for their models, the parameters that produce the range in line ratios are the shock velocity and the magnetic parameter $`B/n^{1/2}`$, where $`B`$ is the magnetic field strength and $`n`$ is the hydrogen number density. Predictions for photoionized plasma assume power-law continua with a spectral index $`\alpha =(1.0,1.4)`$ (assuming $`f_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$), density $`n_H=(100,1000)`$ cm-3, and ionization parameter $`U=10^410^1`$, where $`U`$ is the ratio of ionizing photon and hydrogen densities at the face of the irradiated cloud (Binette, Wilson, & Storchi-Bergmann 1996).

A possible limitation of these photoionization models is their assumption of a single population of ionization-bounded clouds. Binette et al. (1996) have argued that the spectra of AGN narrow-line regions can be better reproduced by photoionization scenarios with multi-component cloud systems; in particular, they emphasize the possible importance of a mix of ionization- and matter-bounded clouds. We have consequently also shown for comparison in Figures 2 and 3 the predictions of a two-zone photoionization model, in which we have reproduced the Binette et al. results using the photoionization code CLOUDY, version 90.05 (Ferland et al. 1998). In this scenario, matter-bounded (MB) clouds filter the ionizing continuum from the AGN before it irradiates the ionization bounded (IB) clouds. The MB clouds are irradiated by a power law with $`\alpha =1.3`$, and are characterized by $`U_{MB}=0.04`$ and $`n_{MB}=50`$ cm-3, while the IB clouds have $`U=5.2\times 10^4`$ and $`n_{IB}=2300`$ cm-3. The relative contribution of emission from the two cloud populations is parametrized by $`A_{M/I}`$, which is the ratio of solid angles subtended by MB and IB clouds. Formally, $`A_{M/I}`$ is always larger than one, but in calculating the resulting spectrum, it can be effectively less than one if the MB clouds are hidden along our line of sight but seen by the IB gas.

The measured ratios reported by D97 at an off-nuclear position, and for the nucleus as given here, are different, and Figures 2 and 3 suggest different interpretations for the two locations. A similar inference was noted by Sankrit, Sembach, & Canizares (1999) based on FOS measurements of the C IV/Ly$`\alpha `$ ratio alone. As discussed by D97 and illustrated also here, the line ratios for the off-nucleus measurement of M87 are consistent in all of these diagrams with a shock interpetation; the photoionization predictions, particularly the single cloud models, do not agree with the data. The line ratios measured for the M87 nucleus are, however, less clear-cut in their interpretation. In Figure 2 (optical and UV lines), the nucleus ratios generally fall within the shock model loci and are inconsistent with both single-cloud and $`A_{M/I}`$ photoionization predictions. However, in Figure 3 (UV lines) the nucleus measurements fall outside the predictions for shocks. Single-cloud photoionization models are likewise inconsistent with these data; but the $`A_{M/I}`$ sequence intersects the measured ratios in all of the plots in Figure 3, and in most cases the data are in fact consistent with predictions for a single value of $`A_{M/I}0.03`$. This result provides a strong suggestion that photoionization is, in fact, important in the nucleus. In contrast, comparison of the observed ratios with the detailed shock models of Dopita & Sutherland (1995) shows that the optical line ratios in Figure 2 are not reproduced by a single combination of shock parameters. The $`A_{M/I}`$ model remains problematic, however, for explaining the optical line ratios in Figure 2 as well as generally underpredicting the strengths of the UV lines relative to H$`\beta `$ for the nucleus.

Is it possible to reconcile a single excitation scenario with the nucleus line ratios plotted in both Figures 2 and 3? It is interesting to note that the division between optical and UV lines separates strong transitions not only by excitation energy, but also by the critical densities for the collisionally excited lines: lower $`n_{crit}`$ for the optical lines, which are forbidden transitions, and higher $`n_{crit}`$ for the UV lines, which are intercombination or resonance features. As a result, increasing the plasma density will affect the predicted line strengths in different ways; the forbidden lines will become suppressed, while the lines with high $`n_{crit}`$ will strengthen as they take over a larger share of the nebular cooling. For the M87 nucleus, increasing the nebular density might thus be expected to improve the success of photoionization models by decreasing the \[O III\]/H$`\beta `$ ratio and boosting the strengths of the UV lines relative to H$`\beta `$. Nebular components spanning a wide range of density are known to exist within AGNs, as revealed by line width-$`n_{crit}`$ correlations (e.g., Pelat, Alloin, & Fosbury 1981; Filippenko & Halpern 1984; Filippenko 1985), and dense components on small spatial scales are explicitly revealed in nuclei through HST studies (e.g., Barth et al. 2001).

To investigate these effects, we experimented with $`A_{M/I}`$ sequences with increased densities and found that many characteristics of the nuclear spectrum are reproduced if $`n_{MB}=10^6`$ cm-3 and $`n_{IB}=10^{6.3}`$ cm-3. The calculation results are again shown for comparison in Figures 2 and 3. The observed line ratios fall consistently near the predictions for the high-$`n`$ $`A_{M/I}0.0020.004`$, except in Figure 2a. In the latter case, the predicted \[O II\] $`\lambda `$3727 strength is very weak, due to the low critical density of this line. A likely remedy to this problem is the inclusion of an additional low-density IB (low-$`n`$ IB) component that emits efficiently in this transition while minimally perturbing the other line ratios.

We modeled this third component as the low-density IB of Binette et al. (1996), except that it was irradiated by an ionizing continuum, the same power-law continuum discussed above, which has not been filtered through the MB clouds. To achieve the final combination of high-$`n`$ $`A_{M/I}`$ \+ low-$`n`$ IB, we assumed that our observation aperture is filled with high-$`n`$ $`A_{M/I}=0.004`$ nebulae and low-$`n`$ IB clouds. Relevant line ratios for each component, normalized by H$`\beta `$, are listed in Table 3. The composite model represents a weighted sum of the three components, and a good overall match with the nucleus observations was obtained with relative H$`\beta `$ contributions from (high-$`n`$ MB): (high-$`n`$ IB): (low-$`n`$ IB) = 0.02 : 0.68 : 0.3 (note that the high-$`n`$ MB : high-$`n`$ IB ratio is already fixed by $`A_{M/I}`$). The composite predicted ratios and observed values are listed in the last two columns of Table 3.

While the 3-component simulation should not be taken too literally as a physical representation of the nebular structure in the M87 nucleus, the comparison presented here nonetheless provides an important demonstration that a multi-component photoionized plasma may account for the emission-line properties of this source. The choice of nebular parameters in this picture is not entirely arbitrary. Gas with densities ranging from $`100`$ cm-3 to $`10^6`$ cm-3 exists in the cores of AGNs, and more general arguments exist for the importance of composite cloud populations in these environments. In particular, Baldwin et al. (1995) and Ferguson et al. (1997) have discussed the phenomenon of locally optimally emitting clouds (LOCs), in which emission in a particular line emerges predominantly from the subset of clouds with appropriately favorable nebular conditions for that transition. In the spirit of the LOC models, we conclude that it appears likely that a combination of high-density nebulae emit most of the lines observed in the nucleus of M87, while lower density clouds lead to the emission from ions with low critical densities, such as \[O II\] $`\lambda `$3727 and \[S II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6717, 6731. Analyses of other LINERs have similarly suggested that multiple cloud populations may be required to account for the observed emission-line properties (e.g., Péquignot 1984; Barth et al. 2001).

An interesting point which our high-$`n`$ $`A_{M/I}`$ calculations raise is whether the UV line-ratio diagrams are in fact robust in distinguishing between shock heating and photoionization, if density effects are taken into consideration. Figures 2 and 3 show that the line ratios from the ionized disk of M87 could be well described by the high-$`n`$ $`A_{M/I}=0.006`$, except for \[O II\] $`\lambda `$3727. We again attempted to construct a composite model with different combinations of the high-$`n`$ $`A_{M/I}`$ and low-$`n`$ IB components. We found that the same fractional contributions of the components used above (with H$`\beta `$ proportions 0.7 : 0.3) give reasonably satisfactory results, although low-$`n_{crit}`$ lines such as \[O II\] and \[S II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6717, 6731 remain underpredicted by a factor of $`2`$. We conclude that the extended disk of M87 remains a good candidate for shock ionization, but emphasize that the UV line diagnostics advocated by D97 and Allen et al. (1998) may encounter limitations when applied to composite nebular systems that include high-density components.

### 3.2 Energetics

A consistency test for photoionization interpretations of the nuclear nebula in M87 is whether the central source provides sufficient ionizing photons to power the line emission. To address this point, we employed recent measurements of the nuclear continuum as measured by XMM-Newton in 2000 (Böhringer et al. 2001). These data have the advantage of simultaneously sampling the UV and X-ray bandpasses; while the central source is known to be variable, we employ these measurements as a representative snapshot of the broad-band continuum. The narrow lines in this source are neither known nor expected to be variable. In the UV bandpass, the XMM-Newton data provide a flux density for the M87 nucleus of $`(1.90\pm 0.04)\times 10^{27}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Hz-1 at 2120 Å, and an integrated X-ray flux of $`1.5\times 10^{12}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 for 2 – 10 keV.

We can extrapolate the XMM-Newton UV flux by assuming that the spectral shape is the same as during our HST observation. We first attempted to derive an analytic fit to the continuum we measured for the nucleus, using SPECFIT as before. The continuum was represented by a broken power law subject to reddening, combined with a stellar component represented by the template described in §2. The fit indicates that the galaxy starlight contribution is negligible, and the continuum is well-represented by only a power law with a break at $`4501\pm 6`$ Å, subject to reddening given by $`A_V=0.15\pm 0.01`$ mag. This amount of reddening is reasonably consistent with the value of $`0.11\pm 0.02`$ mag predicted from the Galactic H I column density toward M87 \[$`N_{HI}=(2.1\pm 0.3)\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2; Sankrit et al. 1999\] and a standard $`N_{HI}/A_V`$ ratio (Bohlin, Savage, & Drake 1978). The spectral indices of the power law are $`\alpha =1.35\pm 0.02`$ and $`\alpha =1.78\pm 0.02`$ for the red and blue portions, respectively. The spectrum of the nucleus along with this fit are shown in Figure 4. A similar fit to the FOS spectra was reported by Tsvetanov et al. (1999b). Our 1999 STIS flux at 2120 Å is $`(7.4\pm 0.6)\times 10^{28}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Hz-1, a factor of 2.6 below that obtained in 2000 by XMM-Newton, which provides one indicator of the level of variability between these two measurements. Scaling our continuum observation to bring it into agreement with the XMM-Newton data, and removing reddening corresponding to $`A_V=0.15`$ mag, implies a flux density at 2500 Å of $`3.6\times 10^{27}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Hz-1.

At higher energies, the continuum is constrained by the XMM-Newton X-ray measurements. Böhringer et al. (2001) reported that the $`0.610`$ keV spectrum was successfully described assuming Galactic absorption only, and a power law with best-fitting $`\alpha =1.2`$. Using the same spectral index with the $`210`$ keV flux noted above implies that the 2 keV flux density is $`2.2\times 10^{30}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Hz-1. The two-point spectral index connecting 2500 Å and 2 keV is then $`\alpha _{ox}1.2`$. While this value is the same as that measured in X-rays, it is shallower than the measured UV index of $`1.78`$, implying that the spectrum must show some spectral curvature across the ionizing ultraviolet region. If we approximate the continuum with a single power law with $`\alpha 1.2`$, normalized to match the dereddened 2500 Å flux, the hydrogen-ionizing photon flux at the Earth in the absence of absorption would be 0.12 photons s-1 cm-2. After correction for $`A_V=0.15`$ mag, the H$`\beta `$ photon flux in our STIS nucleus aperture is $`1.90\times 10^3`$ photons s-1 cm-2, implying a photon ratio $`Q_{ion}/Q_{\mathrm{H}\beta }=63`$. For comparison, Case B recombination at a temperature of $`10^4`$ K and density of $`10^3`$ cm-3 predicts $`Q_{ion}/Q_{\mathrm{H}\beta }=8.55`$ (Hummer & Storey 1987). It thus seems likely that the central source provides enough ionizing photons to power the emission nebula within the central $`1`$″, if the covering factor for the nebular gas is $`1020`$% .

The nebular disk extends beyond the aperture employed here for the nucleus, however. The surface brightness distribution for the nebular disk has been studied by Ford et al. (1994), D97, and Tsvetanov et al. (1999a) using HST narrow-band imaging of H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[N II\]. Within 1″ of the nucleus, the resulting integrated H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[N II\] flux is $`(2.0\pm 0.7)\times 10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 (Ford et al. 1994). If we integrate out from this radius the analytic fit provided by Tsvetanov et al. (1999a) for the surface brightness distribution, the total extrapolated H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[N II\] flux for the disk is then $`2.6\times 10^{13}`$ erg s-1 cm-2. This flux exceeds our nuclear measurement by a factor of $`3.3`$; if we scale our H$`\beta `$ flux by a corresponding amount, the ratio $`Q_{ion}/Q_{\mathrm{H}\beta }19`$, which still allows consistency with photoionization if the covering factor is at least $`4050`$%.

The calculation described above for the ionizing photon flux is uncertain in several ways. First, it requires an uncertain extrapolation across the unobservable ionizing UV bandpass that contains most of $`Q_{ion}`$. In addition, the continuum source is variable. It is therefore uncertain whether our choice of flux level adopted for this calculation is close to an average value. The calculation above involves a further assumption that the continuum we measure is emitted isotropically at the source. If a portion of this continuum is in fact beamed in our direction, our estimate of the photon production available for photoionizing the nebula would be overestimated. Some amount of beaming would not be surprising in light of other similarities between the M87 nucleus and BL Lac objects (see Tsvetanov et al. 1998 for discussion). In any case, it appears likely that the energetics change from being driven primarily by the nuclear radiation field, to other processes at larger radii; on large scales ($`10`$″), the total integrated line flux grows to $`1.2\times 10^{12}`$ erg s-1 cm-2, implying as above $`Q_{ion}/Q_{\mathrm{H}\beta }4`$, which is likely to be problematic. Taken at face value, the models for photoionization of the nucleus (§3.1) and shock heating of the disk (D97) suggest that this transition occurs within only a few tens of parsecs from the center.

### 3.3 Absorption Lines

The absorption lines detected in our spectra provide another diagnostic of material that may be in close proximity to the AGN. The data with the best combination of (high) spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, from STIS G140L and FOS G270H, can be used to estimate some of the properties of the absorbing matter. Absorption lines identified in these spectra and measurements of their equivalent widths (EWs) are presented in Table 4, where we have also included measurements of the Ca II K + H and Na I D lines from the FOS G400H and G570H spectra, respectively. The lines were measured using SPECFIT assuming Gaussian profiles. We show in Figure 5 close-up views of the spectra and fits around the absorption lines. Tsvetanov et al. (1999b) have reported the detection of absorption lines in the same FOS spectra that we are using.

The velocity of the absorption lines relative to that of the emission lines in M87 is of importance for determining the nature and physical state of the absorber. The measured wavelengths listed in Table 4 reflect the wavelength scale resulting from the pipeline reduction of the spectra, which may be subject to significant zero-point shifts. The average velocity of the absorption lines measured with the FOS G270H, not including lines blended with Galactic features, is $`1091\pm 11`$ km s-1; for the STIS G140L spectrum, the mean velocity is $`1066\pm 36`$ km s-1. These values are consistent within their uncertainties, and for each grating considered individually the velocities of the individual lines are likewise consistent with each other. We also fit emission lines in the same spectra. For FOS G270H, C II$`]`$ $`\lambda `$2326 appears at $`2334.9\pm 0.5`$ Å, corresponding to a velocity of $`1073\pm 66`$ km s-1; for STIS G140L, C IV $`\lambda `$1549 appears at $`1555.3\pm 0.6`$ Å and He II $`\lambda `$1640 appears at $`1647.0\pm 0.6`$ Å, yielding velocities of $`1220\pm 120`$ km s-1 (assuming an optically thin C IV doublet ratio) and $`1200\pm 110`$ km s-1, respectively. These results indicate that the absorber and the emitter are at approximately the same redshift. The G140L measurement yields a wavelength for Ly$`\alpha `$ of $`1221.45\pm 0.06`$ Å, corresponding to $`1426\pm 15`$ km s-1, which is significantly larger than the results for the other lines; however, this finding is consistent with expectations that the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission may be modified significantly (30% – 40% flux reduction) due to absorption by Galactic H I, resulting in a redward shift of the transmitted line centroid (Sankrit et al. 1999).

We can improve estimates of absolute velocity from these spectra by associating the Galactic absorption features with H I 21 cm absorption measured toward M87. Results from Davis & Cummings (1975) indicate that radio absorption arising in the Milky Way along this sightline is spread over a 50 km s-1 range, with the major component at $`8`$ km s-1 with respect to the Local Standard of Rest; this velocity corresponds to a heliocentric value of $`12`$ km s-1. The average redshift of Galactic lines in the FOS G270H spectrum is nominally $`72\pm 16`$ km s-1, implying that a correction of $`+60\pm 16`$ km s-1 should be added to velocities derived from this spectrum in order to obtain heliocentric values. The heliocentric velocity of the M87 absorber is then $`1151\pm 19`$ km s-1, based on the G270H measurement. This result means that the absorber is blueshifted by $`126\pm 19`$ km s-1 with respect to M87, which is at $`1277\pm 2`$ km s-1 as determined from stellar absorption lines (van der Marel 1994). The data for C II$`]`$ in the G270H spectrum likewise implies that the emission-line plasma is also blueshifted with respect to the host galaxy, by $`144\pm 68`$ km s-1.

We carried out a curve-of-growth analysis to calculate the column densities of the absorbing ions. We followed the procedure outlined in Spitzer (1978) using our observed equivalent widths. One major uncertainty in this derivation is the detailed shape of the absorption features, since the lines that we detect are not entirely resolved; some substructure within the lines is suggested from previous observations of the Na I D lines (Carter, Johnstone, & Fabian 1997). We consequently chose a Doppler parameter $`b=\mathrm{FWHM}/1.665=200`$ km s-1 for consistency with the intrinsic FWHM of the lines as measured in the FOS and STIS spectra. We used the oscillator strengths from Verner et al. (1994). The resulting values of the column densities $`N_{ion}`$ are listed in Tables 4 and 5. Given the low spectral resolution and possibility of unresolved substructure in the lines, the resulting $`N_{ion}`$ estimates should be treated as lower limits. This point is reinforced by the tendency for some ions to display lower calculated column densities for lines with larger oscillator strengths, consistent with the presence of saturated substructure within these lines.

The results for the individual ions can be used to place constraints on the total column density of the absorber. Each $`N_{ion}`$ gives a lower limit to the corresponding $`N_{element}`$, which in turn provides a lower limit to the total hydrogen column density $`N_H`$, assuming solar abundances (Anders & Grevesse 1989). The inferred $`N_H`$ from the various ions, whose absorption lines are not contaminated by absorption from other absorption features, indicates that $`N_H10^{18}`$ cm-2, except from the column densities of Ca II ($`N_H10^{19}`$ cm-2) and Mn II ($`N_H10^{20}`$ cm-2).

The total $`N_H`$ in the M87 absorber can be constrained by other means. Dwarakanath, van Gorkom, & Owen (1994) used H I 21 cm observations to place an upper limit on the absorbing H I column density of $`5\times 10^{19}`$ cm-2. (This value is sensitive to the spin temperature, assumed by these authors to be 100 K.) Since the absorption lines detected in the HST spectra arise only from very low ionization species (requiring ionization energies $`<13.6`$ eV to produce), the hydrogen in the absorber is expected to be mostly neutral, and this value can thus be taken as a useful limit on the total $`N_H`$. As noted in §3.2 for the nucleus, the reddening of the optical/UV continuum and the X-ray absorbing column as measured by XMM-Newton both appear to be dominated by the Galactic contribution, suggesting that the absorber associated with M87 has $`N_H10^{20}`$ cm-2. Recent Chandra X-ray measurements reported by Di Matteo et al. (2002) indicate that any absorbing matter associated with the nucleus has $`N_H<3.2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2. A consistent picture thus emerges in which the absorber has $`N_H10^{19}10^{20}`$ cm-2. The only potential disagreement arises from the lower limit of $`N_H10^{20}`$ cm-2 obtained above from the Mn II absorption lines. The Mn II $`\lambda `$2577 line is potentially contaminated by Galactic absorption in Fe II $`\lambda `$2587, and Mn II $`\lambda `$2594 suffers a similar problem with Galactic Mn II $`\lambda `$2606, leaving the Mn II $`\lambda `$2606 in M87 as the best option for measuring this ion; the measurement uncertainty for this feature is relatively large, however (1$`\sigma `$ error of 26% ; see also Fig. 5$`d`$), suggesting that it does not represent a significant inconsistency.

A fundamental question concerning the absorber in M87 is its relation, if any, to the accretion-powered activity in the nucleus. LINERs commonly exhibit resonance-line absorption tracing modest column densities, and these absorbers characteristically display a low-ionization state that mirrors the low ionization of the emission plasma in these sources (Shields et al. 2002, and references therein). These absorbers are not particularly exotic in their properties, and a natural question is whether they have any connection to the active nucleus, or simply represent normal components of the interstellar medium of the host galaxy that happen to fall along our line of sight to the central UV source. The latter possibility is underscored by the similarity in detected ions and equivalent widths for the Galactic and M87 absorbers (Tables 4 and 5).

While the nature of absorbers in LINERs in general remains ambiguous, in the case of M87 there are indications that the absorbing material is, in fact, associated with the central accretion phenomenon. The offset in velocity between the absorber and the underlying galaxy, indicative of outflow of the absorbing matter, is highly reminiscent of absorption commonly associated with more luminous AGNs, which is often blueshifted with typical velocities of a few $`\times 100`$ km s-1 (e.g, Crenshaw et al. 1999). In addition, Sankrit et al. (1999) concluded that the substantial strength of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission feature requires that the absorber cover the continuum source, but little if any of the emission-line clouds, if $`N_H10^{18}`$ cm-2, as seems to be the case. The most straightforward way of interpreting this finding geometrically is that the absorber has a distance from the central source and a size that are smaller than the typical dimensions of the emission clouds. Since the HST aperture employed by Sankrit et al. had a diameter of $`0\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}2620`$ pc, the size and scale of the absorber are probably much smaller than this dimension, which would be consistent with an origin in the central accretion structure or its environs.

The absorption characteristics of M87 and possibly other LINERs may lead to important insights into the accretion process in these objects. The low ionization describing both absorption and emission sets these sources apart from Seyfert nuclei and QSOs, and likely arises from a characteristically different mode of accretion at low accretion rates. In particular, physical scenarios employing advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs), adiabatic inflow-outflow solutions (ADIOS), or other low radiative efficiency accretion structures are showing promise for interpreting these sources (see Quataert 2001 for a recent review). Substantial outflows of hot gas are predicted in some versions of these models (e.g., Blandford & Begelman 1999; Beckert 2000), and potentially some cooler material is accelerated in these winds, giving rise to the observed absorption. One quantity of interest for comparison with theoretical predictions is the rate of mass ejection $`\dot{M}`$ represented by the M87 absorber. From simple geometrical considerations, $`\dot{M}\mu m_pfN_H4\pi rv`$, where $`\mu `$ is the mean atomic mass per H atom, $`m_p`$ is the proton mass, $`f`$ is the global covering factor, $`r`$ is the radial location of the absorber, and $`v`$ is the outflow velocity. Assuming solar abundances ($`\mu =1.41`$; Däppen 2000), this can be expressed as

$$\dot{M}0.002f\left(\frac{N_H}{10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2}\right)\left(\frac{r}{1\mathrm{pc}}\right)\left(\frac{v}{126\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1}\right)\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1.$$
$`(1)`$
This result indicates that $`\dot{M}`$ is much less than the Bondi accretion rate for the central object, which is $`0.1`$ M yr-1 (Di Matteo et al. 2002), but consistent with the idea that the absorbed gas may be material entrained in an outflow from the central accretion structure. Observations with higher spectral resolution will be necessary to establish the detailed kinematic and spatial structure of the absorbing gas in M87 and other LINERs.

## 4 Conclusions

The present study of UV/optical emission and absorption in the nearby LINER M87 provides several new insights into the nature of this source. Within a radius of $`20`$ pc, emission-line ratios for the nucleus are well-described by photoionization of a multi-phase medium with a range of densities; shock models are less successful. The data also show a low-ionization absorber that evidently resides on small scales and is outflowing. These attributes, along with the famous radio jet, strongly resemble those of more luminous AGNs, and clearly point to accretion as the underlying power source responsible for the LINER behavior.

M87 is, however, a good case for a composite system in terms of the ionization process generating the optical LINER. The emission-line characteristics of the resolved nebula change significantly away from the center; the emission-line ratios (D97) as well as energetics arguments suggest that mechanical heating becomes important for this gas on scales of tens of parsecs. If this pattern is typical, larger apertures common in ground-based measurements will sample emission plasma that may trace a complex mix of energetic processes. Efforts to identify a single, or even dominant, ionization mechanism in these systems may thus be unproductive, although the question of whether alternatives to accretion power are important provides a good reason to conduct detailed investigations of other LINER galaxies that lack broad lines or other clear signatures of accretion.

Support for this research was provided by NASA through grants GO-07357 and GO-08607 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. We also acknowledge NASA grant NAG5-3556 to A.V.F. We thank Gary Ferland for access to the photoionization code CLOUDY, Matthias Dietrich and Fred Hamann for helpful discussions, and the anonymous referee for constructive comments.


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# A Radiation Scalar for Numerical Relativity

## Abstract

This letter describes a scalar curvature invariant for general relativity with a certain, distinctive feature. While many such invariants exist, this one vanishes in regions of space-time which can be said unambiguously to contain no gravitational radiation. In more general regions which incontrovertibly support non-trivial radiation fields, it can be used to extract local, coordinate-independent information partially characterizing that radiation. While a clear, physical interpretation is possible only in such radiation zones, a simple algorithm can be given to extend the definition smoothly to generic regions of space-time.

The prediction of the observable properties of gravitational radiation is an important application of the theory of general relativity. There has been a recent flurry of activity in gravitational wave research as terrestrial detectors have been built to provide the first direct detection of the phenomenon. These experiments are so delicate, however, that detailed theoretical predictions are required when generating filters to identify physical radiation in the data. To provide these filters, researchers have turned to computers. An impressive array of techniques have been developed which, in the near future, are likely to allow dynamical simulations of astrophysically relevant systems according to the full, non-linear Einstein equations. Once the technical obstacles to such simulations have been overcome, however, tools will be needed to interpret their results. Here, we propose a tool specifically designed to extract gauge-invariant information about gravitational radiation from space-time geometry. Our proposal centers on a scalar quantity constructed from the space-time curvature which, in regions where gravitational radiation is unambiguously defined, manifestly contains information only about the radiation field. We refer to such quantities as radiation scalars. While the physical interpretation of our radiation scalar is clear only in special regions of space-time, its definition (generically) extends smoothly throughout. We present a simple algorithm to calculate it everywhere in space-time at only a modest computational expense.

The notion of gravitational radiation in general relativity does not have universal meaning. Rather, a proper definition can be given only in regions of space-time whose geometry is characterized by two distinct length scales: one describing an “average” radius of curvature and a second, much shorter scale corresponding to the wavelength of gravitational waves. Theoretical tools have been developed which allow a detailed analysis of radiation fields in such radiation zones. The best-known examples include the standard treatment of weak waves on flat space-time, asymptotic techniques at null infinity Arm , and the Teukolsky formalism for weak radiation in the exterior of an equilibrium black hole Teq . All of these approaches separate the physical metric into a background piece and a perturbation thereof describing radiation. They are therefore inappropriate in regions of space-time supporting stronger gravitational fields like those typically modeled in numerical relativity.

Physically, one expects a typical space-time will admit radiation zones both at large distances from any radiating sources, and also closer to them at late times as they approach a quiescent final state. However, there are difficulties realizing this picture in numerical relativity. Limitations imposed by computer technology make it difficult to simulate evolution at large enough distance or to late enough times to deploy perturbative techniques unambiguously. Even within a radiation zone, it is difficult to separate a single, physical metric which has been calculated numerically into background and perturbation. There may be many flat (or Kerr) metrics on a finite region of space-time which approximate the physical metric to a given accuracy at every point. Employing a radiation scalar can avoid these difficulties because it (a) is calculable everywhere in space-time and (b) does not require any background metric be chosen. On the other hand, however, the scalar we describe below does not offer as complete a description of gravitational waves in a radiation zone as the perturbative approaches mentioned above. In particular, it vanishes even for certain non-trivial radiation fields. However, such fields are non-generic and unlikely to be found by numerical simulations not explicitly designed to do so. Our goal is not a formalism suited to all possible cases, but rather an approach which will be effective in generic situations one might reasonably expect to encounter.

The use of scalar curvature invariants in numerical relativity is quite natural. Unlike the components of a higher-rank tensor, the value of a scalar function at any point of space-time is independent of any coordinates used to evaluate it. In a radiation zone, for example, a scalar can easily distinguish physical radiation from oscillations in the field variables induced by a peculiar choice of coordinates.

Curvature invariants have been studied extensively in the literature Wic ; esb , particularly in connection to the algebraic (Petrov) classification of space-times dIRC . The best-known, and algebraically simplest, examples are the two complex quantities

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill I& :=\frac{1}{16}(C_{ab}{}_{}{}^{cd}C_{cd}^{}{}_{}{}^{ab}iC_{ab}{}_{}{}^{cd}{}_{}{}^{}C_{cd}^{}{}_{}{}^{ab})\hfill \\ \hfill J& :=\frac{1}{96}(C_{ab}{}_{}{}^{cd}C_{cd}^{}{}_{}{}^{ef}C_{ef}^{}{}_{}{}^{ab}iC_{ab}{}_{}{}^{cd}C_{cd}^{}{}_{}{}^{ef}{}_{}{}^{}C_{ef}^{}{}_{}{}^{ab}),\hfill \end{array}$$
(1)
where $`{}_{}{}^{}C_{ab}^{}{}_{}{}^{cd}:=\frac{1}{2}ϵ_{ab}{}_{}{}^{mn}C_{mn}^{}^{cd}`$ denotes the space-time Hodge dual of the Weyl tensor. In fact, these two scalars are not only simple, but also the only independent, algebraic curvature scalars one can construct. This is because any curvature invariant should be expressible as a function of a set of six fundamental (real) invariants known as the eigenvalues of the Weyl tensor. Since the traces of both the Weyl tensor and its dual vanish, a simple counting argument shows $`I`$ and $`J`$ alone suffice to reconstruct those six eigenvalues. Thus, any scalar curvature invariant should be expressible as some function of $`I`$ and $`J`$. The operative question then is which such functions define radiation scalars.

Neither quantity defined in Eq. (1) is itself a radiation scalar. The stationary Kerr black hole, for example, is known to contain no gravitational radiation anywhere in space-time. However, neither $`I`$ nor $`J`$ vanishes in the Kerr space-time. Intuitively, both contain contributions not just from the radiative part of the gravitational field, but also from the Coulombic part. We must therefore seek a non-trivial function of both $`I`$ and $`J`$ in which their Coulombic contributions cancel. One can adopt a systematic approach to this search.

The Newman–Penrose formalism NP  encodes the ten independent components of the Weyl tensor at each point of space-time in the five complex scalars

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \mathrm{\Psi }_0& :=C_{abcd}\mathrm{}^am^b\mathrm{}^cm^d\hfill \\ \hfill \mathrm{\Psi }_2& :=C_{abcd}\mathrm{}^am^b\overline{m}^cn^d\hfill \\ \hfill \mathrm{\Psi }_4& :=C_{abcd}\overline{m}^an^b\overline{m}^cn^d\hfill \end{array}\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \mathrm{\Psi }_1& :=C_{abcd}\mathrm{}^am^b\mathrm{}^cn^d\hfill \\ \hfill \mathrm{\Psi }_3& :=C_{abcd}\mathrm{}^an^b\overline{m}^cn^d\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)
These curvature components $`\mathrm{\Psi }_n`$ depend on one’s choice of a null tetrad $`(\mathrm{}^a,n^a,m^a,\overline{m}^a)`$ on space-time. All four vectors in such a tetrad are null, with the first pair real and the second both complex and conjugate to one another, and their only non-vanishing inner products are $`\mathrm{}^an_a=1`$ and $`m^a\overline{m}_a=1`$. The Newman–Penrose approach is particularly useful in the search for radiation scalars because it already expresses space-time curvature in the coordinate-independent scalars $`\mathrm{\Psi }_n`$. However, this independence comes at a price. In general, there is no preferred null tetrad on space-time, and clearly different choices in Eq. (2) will lead to different values of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_n`$. There are then two ways to extract invariant, physical results. One can either seek combinations of the $`\mathrm{\Psi }_n`$ which take the same value in every frame (such as $`I`$ and $`J`$), or find a means of “gauge-fixing” by imposing additional conditions on the tetrad. We shall employ a combination of these techniques below. We should emphasize that, while the Newman–Penrose formalism is a convenient tool in our search, the final result we present below does not depend on it. Rather, the radiation scalar we propose can be calculated directly from the space-time curvature; it is a particular function of $`I`$ and $`J`$.

In a local reference frame adapted to a given null tetrad $`(\mathrm{}^a,n^a,m^a,\overline{m}^a)`$, the $`\mathrm{\Psi }_n`$ have specific physical interpretations Sgc . The components $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_1`$ ($`\mathrm{\Psi }_4`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_3`$) describe transverse and longitudinal gravitational waves, respectively, propagating in the null direction $`\mathrm{}^a`$ ($`n^a`$), while $`\mathrm{\Psi }_2`$ represents the Coulombic part of the field. These interpretations are supported by results in the weak-field limits associated with radiation zones. Moreover, both near null infinity and in the Teukolsky formalism, physical radiation is associated with the transverse components $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_4`$ while the longitudinal components $`\mathrm{\Psi }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_3`$ are understood to be “pure gauge.” In the Teukolsky formalism, for example, there is a natural null tetrad. It is the Kinnersley frame Ktd , whose real null vectors lie in the two repeated principal null directions of the background Kerr geometry. The null tetrad in the Teukolsky formalism differs from the Kinnersley frame only at first order in perturbation theory. However, the exact perturbation in the tetrad can always be chosen such that

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_1=0=\mathrm{\Psi }_3.$$
(3)
Motivated by these considerations, we seek to define a radiation scalar which is a function solely of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_4`$. However, the apparent simplicity of this goal is misleading. It only acquires meaning if one can find a null tetrad everywhere on space-time which passes over smoothly to the correct limits at late times and large distances.

While the condition Eq. (3) has been introduced in the context of perturbation theory on Kerr space-time, there is no obvious problem imposing it more generally. We shall call a null tetrad satisfying these conditions a transverse frame. It is not immediately clear whether transverse frames always exist and, if they do, whether they are unique. However, it is possible to answer both of these questions locally at any point of any space-time.

When they do exist, transverse frames are never unique. This is because there are two types of null tetrad transformation which preserve the conditions of Eq. (3). These include a continuous family of spin-boost transformations $`S(c)`$ which rescale both real null tetrad vectors and rotate the complex ones by a phase, as well as a discrete exchange transformation $`E`$ which interchanges the real and complex vectors in pairs. They affect the curvature components according to

$$S(c):\mathrm{\Psi }_nc^{2n}\mathrm{\Psi }_n\text{and}E:\mathrm{\Psi }_n\mathrm{\Psi }_{4n}.$$
(4)
These ambiguities in a transverse frame always exist, however, and may not exhaust one’s freedom in choosing it. It is therefore natural to ask how many distinct transverse frames up to spin-boost and exchange exist at a given point of space-time. This question has a remarkably simple answer. Each transverse frame is associated with a non-null, self-dual eigenvector of the Weyl tensor. This association is not one-to-one, but rather two transverse frames give the same eigenvector if and only if they can be transformed into one another using only spin-boost and exchange operations. While the details of the association are unimportant here, it gives the crucial result that the number of distinct transverse frames is completely determined by the algebraic (Petrov) class of the Weyl tensor. In the various cases, one finds

There are exactly three transverse frames.

There are infinitely many transverse frames, falling in two sets. One set contains only the Kinnersley frame, while the other contains a continuum of other transverse frames.

There is only one transverse frame.

There are a continuum of transverse frames.

There are no transverse frames.

Geometries of types II-N and III describe pure radiation fields, and are rarely encountered in numerical relativity unless explicitly sought. The absence or surplus of transverse frames in these cases is therefore of little practical consequence. Moreover, a type I-D geometry’s Kinnersley frame is singularly important physically. Thus, in all cases of primary physical interest, transverse frames do exist. The relevant ones are unique up to spin-boost and exchange, modulo an additional finite ambiguity in the type I case which we resolve below.

In the absence of additional structures, such as a Killing field, one cannot proceed to eliminate the residual spin-boost and exchange ambiguities in a transverse frame. We therefore adopt a different approach. According to the transformation laws, Eq. (4), the quantities

$$\xi :=\mathrm{\Psi }_0^{}\mathrm{\Psi }_4^{}$$
(5)
take the same value for all transverse frames related to one another by residual transformations. (The notation $`\mathrm{\Psi }_n^{}`$ indicates evaluation in a transverse frame.) In a type I geometry, there will be three distinct, non-zero values of $`\xi `$, while for type II the only value is $`\xi =0`$. There will be two distinct values in a type I-D geometry. One, $`\xi =0`$, is associated with the Kinnersley frame, and the other with the continuum of other transverse frames. Motivated by all these facts, we seek a function on space-time which equals one of the values of $`\xi `$ at every point. If this function always approaches zero in the limits of late times and large distances, it will define a radiation scalar.

At first, the prospect of evaluating $`\xi `$ numerically seems daunting. Indeed, its definition involves one or more algebraically preferred null tetrads which perhaps cannot easily be found numerically at each space-time point. However, the close connection between transverse frames and the algebraic structure of the Weyl tensor suggests an alternative. One can construct a tensor $`\mathrm{\Xi }_{ab}^{cd}`$, a quadratic polynomial in $`C_{ab}^{cd}`$, whose eigenvalues are precisely $`\xi `$. The characteristic equation for this tensor gives

$$P:=\xi ^3\frac{3}{2}I\xi ^2+\frac{9}{16}I^2\xi \frac{1}{16}\left(I^327J^2\right)=0.$$
(6)
The three roots of $`P`$ are the values of $`\xi `$. This result shows explicitly $`\xi `$ can be evaluated directly without invoking the Newman–Penrose formalism.

The roots of Eq. (6) take a particularly simple form when expressed in terms of the Baker–Campanelli speciality index BC  $`𝒮:=27J^2/I^3`$. This quantity equals unity if and only if space-time is of types II or I-D (it is ill-defined for types II-N and III, where $`I=0=J`$). The classical Cardano formula yields

$$\xi =IZ(𝒮):=\frac{I}{4}\left(2\left[W(𝒮)\right]^{1/3}\left[W(𝒮)\right]^{1/3}\right),$$
(7)
where $`W(𝒮):=2𝒮1+2\sqrt{𝒮^2𝒮}`$. The three values of the cube root yield the three solutions of Eq. (6).

The function $`Z(𝒮)`$ is not single-valued, and one must therefore pick a branch of it to evaluate $`\xi `$ numerically. A careful analysis shows the Riemann surface $`𝒵_𝒮`$, depicted in Fig. 1, for $`Z(𝒮)`$ consists of three sheets with branch points at $`0`$, $`1`$, and $`\mathrm{}`$. There is a unique sheet $`𝒵_𝒮^0`$ with no branch point at $`𝒮=1`$. The associated branch $`Z_0(𝒮)`$ is unique among the three in that $`Z_0(1)=0`$, whence only this branch gives the correct limit, $`\xi 0`$, in the radiation zones at late times or large distances. Thus, a function which equals $`\xi _0:=IZ_0(𝒮)`$ in these limits will define a radiation scalar. One can evaluate $`\xi _0`$ numerically using branches of the roots in Eq. (7) with $`\sqrt[3]{1}=\sqrt{1}=1`$, and branch cuts for both along the negative real axis. With these choices, the branch cut for $`Z_0(𝒮)`$ itself also lies along the negative real axis.

A potential problem arises as one attempts to extend $`\xi _0`$ into regions of space-time supporting stronger gravitational fields. Namely, at certain points along a curve connecting a well-understood radiation zone to the strong-field interior, the value of $`𝒮`$ may lie on the branch line for $`Z_0(𝒮)`$. At such points, $`\xi _0`$ as defined above will be discontinuous. However, although a given branch of a multi-valued complex function is necessarily discontinuous at a branch line, it is always continuous there with one of the other branches. In our case, this means we can define a function along the curve in question which equals $`\xi _0`$ for points with values of $`𝒮`$ just to one side of the branch line, and equals one of the other roots, say $`\xi _+`$, for nearby points with $`𝒮`$ just to the other side. This function is guaranteed to be smooth on space-time, and is simple enough to evaluate numerically. Begin by calculating all three roots of Eq. (6) at each point of space-time. At late enough times and large enough distances, pick the root $`\xi _0`$. Then, extend the function globally by moving to points with successively stronger fields, always picking the appropriate root so as to keep it smooth. This algorithm, for a generic space-time, will result in a smooth function whose large-distance and late-time limits will equal $`\xi _0`$. It is a radiation scalar.

The speciality index is a convenient measure of whether a simulation has reached far enough into the asymptotic regions for the root $`\xi _0`$ to be clearly relevant. Namely, if one finds in numerical data a fairly large boundary region where $`|𝒮1|<1`$, it becomes reasonable to assume curves extending outward to infinity will not support values of $`𝒮`$ lying on the branch line for $`Z_0(𝒮)`$. Practically speaking, this gives a quantitative indication of the whether the above construction can be meaningfully applied to a given simulation.

One might worry the radiation scalar we have described is not single-valued. Indeed, it is defined by extending its value smoothly along curves linking well-understood radiation zones to other, strong-field regions of space-time. In principle, the value at a point in the strong-field region could depend on the curve used to reach it. However, for the vast majority of space-times, this worry is unfounded. Specifically, if the algebraic class of space-time is nowhere exactly type II or higher (II-N or III; there is no problem in type I-D), the radiation scalar is necessarily single-valued. It may be so in other situations as well, but a proof does not exist.

A conspicuous feature of the definition of $`\xi `$ in Eq. (5) is its dependence on both $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_4`$. Near infinity, these curvature components describe the ingoing and outgoing parts, respectively, of the radiation field. There are therefore non-trivial (pure ingoing or outgoing) radiation fields for which $`\xi `$ will vanish. However, such configurations are not generic. Real radiation fields experience some back-scattering, even at large distances, and only for very carefully designed states will $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$ or $`\mathrm{\Psi }_4`$ vanish exactly. In fact, the ingoing and outgoing parts of the radiation field are coupled through the Teukolsky–Starobinsky identities PTid ; Chandra ; complete knowledge of either one determines the other. Thus, for example, insisting the ingoing part vanishes exactly imposes severe restrictions also on the outgoing part. As a result, pure ingoing or outgoing fields are more difficult to construct, and rarer, than one might first expect.

As a sample application of these techniques, consider a full, non-linear simulation of a binary black hole system. After coalescence, as the single remaining hole settles down to a quiescent final state, the relevant transverse frame will approximate the Kinnersley frame of some (undetermined) background Kerr geometry. The factors, $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0^{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_4^{}`$, defining $`\xi _0`$ will therefore satisfy the Teukolsky equation. Their late-time behavior is known from perturbation theory: after quasi-normal ringing, both factors decay to zero as a power of time. Moreover, the (complex) quasi-normal frequencies are specific functions of the mass and angular momentum of the final black hole. One can therefore extract these physical parameters from the late-time behavior of the radiation scalar without first invoking perturbation theory techniques. This is important conceptually since the ideal background for a given simulation would have the physical parameters so determined. They would not otherwise be known when making the transition to perturbation theory.

While it may be possible to construct radiation scalars other than the one described here, they may not be easy to find. A natural candidate, $`\varrho :=𝒮1`$, has many features similar to those of $`\xi _0`$, but does not have the correct behavior near null infinity. To leading order in perturbation theory, this quantity is given by $`\psi _0^{}\psi _4^{}/(\psi _2^{})^2`$. While $`\varrho `$ certainly vanishes if space-time is exactly Kerr, the denominator here generally falls off at the same rate as the numerator. Although the asymptotic value will be small, quadratic in the perturbation parameter, it will not fall off to zero. It therefore does not extract information solely about radiation near null infinity.

The authors are indebted to the members of the relativity group at the University of Utah, and especially Richard Price, for many stimulating discussions. This research has been supported by NSF grant PHY-9734871.