《天体物理概论》概论090920.pptVIP

§4. Astronomical Signal Emitted Continuum Emission: §4. 1. thermal non-thermal §4. 2. bremsstrahlung (free-free) emission §4. 3. recombination (free-bound emission) §4. 4. two-photon emission §4. 5. synchrotron ( cyclotron) radiation §4. 6. inverse Compton radiation Line Emission: §4. 7. richness of line spectrum §4. 8. line strength, thermalization, critical density §4. 9. line broadening * §4. 1. thermal non-thermal An accelerating charged particle that is not bound to an atom or molecule will radiate. Thermal emission is any process for which the observed signal is associated with a system whose states are populated according to a Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution. Non-thermal emission: everything else. * §4. 2. bremsstrahlung (free-free) emission * Bremsstrahlung: a German word for “braking” “radiation” free-free emission ?? free-free absorption free-free emission coefficient [erg s-1 cm-3 Hz-1 sr-1]: where ni, ne are the ion and electron densities, respectively, Te the electron temperature, Z the atomic number, and the correction factor gff(n, Te), namely the free-free Gaunt factor. free-free Gaunt factor: gff(n, Te) * Two examples of the thermal Bremsstrahlung spectrum * Radio emission from HII regions not affected by extinction hn kTe ? Rayleigh-Jens tail * Optically thick: Optically thin: is called the ‘emission measure’, which contains information about the number density of particles along the line of sight. §4. 3. recombination (free-bound emission) A spectrum of an HII region in the optical band. The dashed curve shows the combination of free-bound radiation two-photon emission. The remainder of the continuum is due to scattered light from dust. * §4. 4. two-photon emission * Two-photon emission occurs between bound states in an atom but it produces continuum instead of line emission. This happens when an electron finds itself in a quantum level for which any downwards transition would violate quantum mechanical selection rule