# a small halo symbol

One can generate an oval shape using $\subset\supset$ and adjusting the space in between to make this look like a "halo". Are there any other solutions that would make it look more like an ellipse? I am interested in a smallish symbol that I can use as a sub/superscript or "overscript".

-
Welcome to TeX.SX! You can have a look at our starter guide to familiarize yourself further with our format. The answer depends on how your symbol should look like. Could you include a picture in your question? – strpeter Dec 30 '13 at 14:30

This has the advantage of scaling with \scriptstyle.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stackengine}
\stackMath
\usepackage{scalerel}
\newcommand\halo{{\mkern-.5mu\hstretch{1.8}{\circ}\mkern-2mu}}
\begin{document}
$$A\mathop{\halo} B \quad 2^\halo \quad \stackon[1pt]{X}{\halo}$$
\end{document}


-

I don't know what a "halo" is, anyway, something like this?

Code:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\halo}{{\subset\mathrel{\mkern-5mu}\supset}}

\begin{document}
$\halo$
\end{document}

-

# Idea 1

You could rescale a circle.

## Example

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\newcommand{\halo}{{\scalebox{1}[.5]{\ensuremath{\bigcirc}}}}

\begin{document}

$\overset{\halo}{X}, A_\halo, B^\halo$

\end{document}


# Idea 2

Use tikz to draw a circle on a plane inside 3d space.

\documentclass[]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{3d}

\newcommand{\halo}{{\tikz[canvas is zx plane at y=0] \draw (0,0) circle (5pt);}}

\begin{document}
$\overset{\halo}{X}, A_\halo, B^\halo$
\end{document}


# Idea 3

Rescale and rotate a circle

## Example

\documentclass[]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\usepackage{graphicx}

\newcommand{\halo}{{\rotatebox{8}{\scalebox{1}[.3]{\ensuremath{\bigcirc}}}}}

\begin{document}
$\overset{\halo}{X}, A_\halo, B^\halo$
\end{document}


## Result

-
Actually I tried to invoke the "tikz" package in my latex file but this does not seem to be part of the standard software provided by our systems people. Or am I not going about this in the right way? Don't have too much experience with graphics in latex, mostly formulas :-) – katz Dec 30 '13 at 15:10
@katz It should be included with most tex distros. I added a solution that looks similar but won't use tikz. – someonr Dec 30 '13 at 15:12
Thanks. The \rotatebox command controls the angle of rotation? – katz Dec 30 '13 at 15:25
@katz Yes: \rotatebox[<optional arguments>]{<angle in degrees>}{<object to rotate>} For more informations please take a look at the graphicx manual: mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/required/graphics/grfguide.pdf – someonr Dec 30 '13 at 15:31
@katz no, It looks like dvi format has no support for rotating and scaling. That means that ps code will be embedded, but most viewers can't display it correctly. (tex.stackexchange.com/questions/69282/…) You could calculate a Bézier curve to use in the picture enviroment ursoswald.ch/LaTeXGraphics/picture/…. – someonr Jan 1 '14 at 15:59

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{bbding}
\begin{document}

\Ellipse

\end{document}


Or you can use tikz and try

\tikz \draw (0,0) ellipse (7pt and 3pt);

-