Free-bound Emission Research Articles

Two-photon Production in Low-velocity Shocks

The Galactic interstellar medium abounds in shocks with low velocities v s ≲ 70 km s−1. Some are descendants of higher velocity shocks, while others start off at low velocity (e.g., stellar bow shocks, intermediate velocity clouds, spiral density waves). Low-velocity shocks cool primarily via Lyα and two-photon continuum, augmented by optical recombination lines (e.g., Hα), forbidden lines of metals and free-bound emission, free–free emission. The dark far-ultraviolet (FUV) sky, aided by the fact that the two-photon continuum peaks at 1400 Å, makes the FUV band an ideal tracer of low-velocity shocks. GALEX FUV images reaffirm this expectation, discovering faint and large interstellar structure in old supernova remnants and thin arcs stretching across the sky. Interstellar bow shocks are expected from fast stars from the Galactic disk passing through the numerous gas clouds in the local interstellar medium within 15 pc of the Sun. Using the bests atomic data available to date, we present convenient fitting formulae for yields of Lyα, two-photon continuum, and Hα for pure hydrogen plasma in the temperature range of 104–105 K. The formulae presented here can be readily incorporated into time-dependent cooling models as well as collisional ionization equilibrium models.

The historical active episodes of the disks around γ Cassiopeiae (B0.5 IVe) and 59 Cygni (B1 IVe) revisited

The observations of all known major activity phases of the disks around the classical Be stars γ Cas and 59 Cyg with low-mass companions are comprehensively reviewed and purely qualitatively evaluated again, though taking advantage of new insights gained over the past 25 yr into the physics of Be disks. Both stars have exhibited activity cycles in the violet-to-red (V/R) flux ratio of emission lines with two peaks. This activity is indistinguishable from those of the vast majority of Be stars and so probably were caused by one-armed (m= 1) disk oscillations. The anomalous high-activity phases from 1932 to 1942 in γ Cas and between 1972 and 1976 in 59 Cyg were distinguished fromm= 1 density waves by large variations in the separations of pairs of emission peaks. In two consecutive cycles, shell phases during which the emission peaks were maximally separated alternated with single (blended) emission peaks. The amplitude in peak separation of more than a factor of two implies a high-amplitude variation in the disk aspect angle. When the peaks were blended and the disk was viewed closest to face-on, local maxima in visual brightness probably occurred inγCas, and the visibility of the stellar absorption lines was reduced, as is expected from increased free-bound emission into the line of sight (there is no time-resolved photometry for 59 Cyg from the event in the 1970s). In y Cas, the pre-event V/R variability (pre-event observations of 59 Cyg do not exist) was practically identical tom= 1 variability. In spite of the subsequent rapid rise in amplitude (up to ~4), the V/R variations connected smoothly in phase but may require an explanation involving the 3D structure of the disk. The phasing of single-peak and shell stages relative to the V/R activity was the same in both cycles ofγCas, whereas this is not clear for 59 Cyg. During both high-activity cycles ofγCas, but at different phases, transient additional pairs of emission lines appeared inγCas that were much sharper than the main ones and they also had different peak separations and V/R ratios. In the second instance, their velocities were up to ~+500 km s−1. The extremely rapid excitation of the activity phases and their short duration of only two cycles in both stars may indicate a resonant behavior of an unidentified nature. In both stars, the line emission was strongly developed at the onset of the high-activity phases but it basically disappeared at the end of them, and the disks may have been dynamically destroyed. The atypical disk variations were presumably triggered by enhanced interactions between a disk and companion star. In both systems, there seems to be less evidence for a mass-loss outburst than for a reduced mass-injection rate into the disk. The resulting lower viscous coupling between a disk and star would have facilitated the tilting of the disk.

Testing super-eddington accretion on to a supermassive black hole: reverberation mapping of PG 1119+120

ABSTRACT We measure the black hole mass and investigate the accretion flow around the local (z = 0.0502) quasar PG 1119+120. Spectroscopic monitoring with Calar Alto provides H β lags and linewidths from which we estimate a black hole mass of log (M•/M⊙) = 7.0, uncertain by ∼0.4 dex. High cadence photometric monitoring over 2 yr with the Las Cumbres Observatory provides light curves in seven optical bands suitable for intensive continuum reverberation mapping. We identify variability on two time-scales. Slower variations on a 100-d time-scale exhibit excess flux and increased lag in the u′ band and are thus attributable to diffuse bound-free continuum emission from the broad-line region. Faster variations that we attribute to accretion disc reprocessing lack a u′-band excess and have flux and delay spectra consistent with either τ ∝ λ4/3, as expected for a temperature structure of T(R) ∝ R−3/4 for a thin accretion disc, or τ ∝ λ2 expected for a slim disc. Decomposing the flux into variable (disc) and constant (host galaxy) components, we find the disc SED to be flatter than expected with $f_{\nu } \sim \rm {const}$. Modelling the SED predicts an Eddington ratio of λEdd > 1, where the flat spectrum can be reproduced by a slim disc with little dust extinction or a thin disc that requires more dust extinction. While this accretion is super-Eddington, the geometry is still unclear; however, a slim disc is expected due to the high radiation pressure at these accretion rates, and is entirely consistent with our observations.

Radiative Lifetimes for the A and C1Σ+ States of the (SrK)+ Ion Molecular

We have investigated, in a previous work, the transition dipole moments (TDM) of the 13 1Σ+ states of the (SrK)+ molecular ion by using the ab initio method based on the pseudo-potential approach. The radiative lifetimes for all vibrational levels of A and C1Σ+ have been calculated by using such transition dipole moments curves. We have included the bound-free emissions probabilities further to the bound–bound transitions. The bound-free emissions probabilities have been determined exactly, using the Franck–Condon approach, and then included in the total radiative lifetime. An important change has been observed for the higher excited vibrational levels in these lifetimes when the approximate evaluation breaks down. For the first time, the radiative lifetimes associated with the Aand C1Σ+ excited state have been studied here.

Exploring the electronic states of the hydroxyl dication OH2+: thermodynamic (meta)stability, bound-free emission spectra, and charge transfer processes.

Accurate potential energy curves were constructed for a manifold of electronic states of the hydroxyl dication using a highly correlated electronic structure approach (SA-CASSCF/MRCI+Q/aug-cc-pV5Z). The existence of a bound (meta)stable ground state and bound low-lying states for OH2+ are ruled out, but do not exclude the possibility of its transient formation and dissociation along the repulsive ground state potential energy curve. Our results do not support the conclusion reported for the observation of OH2+ by electron ionization from ground state OH+. Despite the repulsive character of the low-lying states, thermodynamic stability was indeed verified for the states 2 4Π and 3 4Σ- along with a series of metastable high-lying doublet states. For the (quasi)bound states, we obtained vibrational levels, spectroscopic parameters, and dipole moment functions. Using accurate transition dipole moment functions, we also evaluated bound-free emission transition probabilities and radiative lifetimes. For transitions from v'= 0, our estimates of 92.8 ns (4Π) and 9.3 ns (4Σ-) indicate that the ones obtained by a multichannel theory of predissociating states are too short (2-60 ps). Landau-Zener cross sections averaged over the Maxwellian distribution of relative velocities, and rate coefficients for the reaction O2+ + H → O+ + H+ were obtained using the potential energy curves of the states 4Π and 4Σ- associated with the channel O2+ + H and the repulsive ones dissociating into O+ + H+ leading to good results for the rate constant thus supporting its importance to explain the distribution of O+ in astrophysical plasmas.

Searching for Be Stars in the Open Clusters with PTF/iPTF. I. Cluster Sample and Be Star Candidates

Abstract We conducted a search for Be star candidates in open clusters using Hα imaging photometry of the Palomar Transient Factory Survey to investigate some connections among Be star phenomena, cluster environments, and ages. Stellar members of clusters were identified by spatial distributions, near-infrared magnitudes and colors, and by proper motions. Among 104 open clusters, we identified 96 Be star candidates in 32 clusters; 11 of our candidates have been reported in previous studies. We found that the clusters with age 7.5 < log(t(year)) 8.5 tend to have more Be star candidates; there is about a 40% occurrence rate within this age bin. The clusters in this age bin also tend to have a higher Be fraction N(Be)/N(Be+B-type). These results suggest that the environments of young and intermediate clusters are favorable to the formation of Be phenomena. Spatial distribution of Be star candidates with different ages implies that they do not form preferentially in the central regions. Furthermore, we showed that the mid-infrared (MIR) colors of the Be star candidates are similar to known Be stars, which could be caused by free–free emission or bound-free emission. Some Be star candidates might have no circumstellar dust according to their MIR colors. Finally, among 96 Be candidates, we discovered that one Be star candidate FSR 0904-1 exhibits long-term variability on the timescale of ∼2000 days with an amplitude of 0.2–0.3 mag, indicating a long timescale of disk evolution.

Cosmospec: fast and detailed computation of the cosmological recombination radiation from hydrogen and helium

We present the first fast and detailed computation of the cosmological recombination radiation released during the hydrogen (redshift z ~ 1300) and helium (z ~ 2500 and z ~ 6000) recombination epochs, introducing the code CosmoSpec. Our computations include important radiative transfer effects, 500-shell bound-bound and free-bound emission for all three species, the effects of electron scattering and free-free absorption as well as interspecies (HeII --> HeI --> HI) photon feedback. The latter effect modifies the shape and amplitude of the recombination radiation and CosmoSpec improves significantly over previous treatments of it. Utilizing effective multilevel atom and conductance approaches, one calculation takes only ~ 15 seconds on a standard laptop as opposed to days for previous computations. This is an important step towards detailed forecasts and feasibility studies considering the detection of the cosmological recombination lines and what one may hope to learn from the ~ 6.1 photons emitted per hydrogen atom in the three recombination eras. We briefly illustrate some of the parameter dependencies and discuss remaining uncertainties in particular related to collisional processes and the neutral helium atom model.

Transition dipole function and radiative lifetimes for the A and C 1Σ+ states of the LiH molecule

The transition dipole moments of the first eight 1 Σ + states of the LiH molecule have been calculated using ab initio approach based on the pseudopotential technique. Such transition dipole mo- ments have been used to determine the radiative lifetimes for all vibrational levels of the first and the second excited states, A and C 1 Σ + , using accurate adiabatic potential energy curves. In addition to the bound-bound transitions, we have included the bound-free emissions probabilities. The latter was calcu- lated exactly and using the Franck-Condon approximation and then included in the total radiative lifetime. A significant change in these lifetimes has been observed, particularly for the higher excited vibrational levels for which the approximate evaluation breaks down. The radiative lifetimes of the vibrational levels of the A 1 Σ + exited sate are in very good agreement with the few available theoretical and experimental results. However, the radiative lifetimes associated to the C 1 Σ + state are presented here for the first time.

Simulation of pulse height analysis soft X-ray spectra expected from W7-X

A computer code named RayX has been developed for checking the performance of a spectroscopy system and optimizing individual parts, like detectors and filters for the pulse height analysis (PHA) diagnostic system designed for the stellarator W7-X. Using the code, the intensity and shape of the X-ray spectra are simulated for different plasma scenarios characterized by varying the temperature and density profiles as well as the electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) power over a wide range. In the simulations of the recorded spectra, the influence of geometrical configuration changes of the diagnostic system (pinhole size, detector size, location of each diagnostic component), of the timing of data collection, as well as of the type and thickness of filters are being investigated. The atomic processes of free-free (bremsstrahlung), free-bound (recombination radiation), and bound-bound emission (line radiation) are considered. For the impurities fractional abundancies of 3% carbon (C), 0.5% oxygen (O) and 0.002% iron (Fe) are taken into account. Information about the number of photons which reach the detector and the current generated inside the detector is given. It is shown that the distance between pinhole and detector has a larger impact on the registered spectra (intensity and total number of photons) than the distance between plasma and pinhole. Based on the results of the simulations, the expected optimal positions of the individual components (pinholes, detectors) were defined for the PHA W7-X diagnostic system.A shorter version of this contribution is due to be published in PoS at: 1st EPS conference on Plasma Diagnostics

Calculation of net emission coefficient of electrical discharge machining arc plasmas in mixtures of nitrogen with graphite, copper and tungsten

This work reports theoretical calculations of electrical discharge machining (EDM) radiative properties for mixture systems of N2-C, N2-Cu and N2-W arc plasmas, in the temperature range of 3000–10 000 K, and at 1 and 10 bar pressures. Radiative properties are computed for various plasma sizes as well as vapour proportions. Calculations consider line overlapping with spectrum coverage from 30 to 10 000 nm. Doppler, Natural, Van-der-Waals, Resonance and Stark broadening are taken into account as the line broadening mechanisms. Besides, continuum calculations consider bound-free and free-free emissions along with molecular bands radiation for selected molecular systems. Results show that contamination vapours of EDM electrode have strong influence on the amount of EDM plasma radiation to the surrounding environment. However, comparison of impurities from workpiece with electrode one indicates that Fe vapour has stronger impact on modifying the EDM arc plasma radiative properties, compared to the C, Cu and W species studied in this research.

H I FREE-BOUND EMISSION OF PLANETARY NEBULAE WITH LARGE ABUNDANCE DISCREPANCIES: TWO-COMPONENT MODELS VERSUS κ-DISTRIBUTED ELECTRONS

The "abundance discrepancy" problem in the study of planetary nebulae (PNe), viz., the problem concerning systematically higher heavy-element abundances derived from optical recombination lines relative to those from collisionally excited lines, has been under discussion for decades, but no consensus on its solution has yet been reached. In this paper we investigate the hydrogen free-bound emission near the Balmer jump region of four PNe that are among those with the largest abundance discrepancies, aiming to examine two recently proposed solutions to this problem: two-component models and Kappa electron energy distributions. We find that the Balmer jump intensities and the spectrum slopes cannot be simultaneously matched by the theoretical calculations based upon single Maxwell-Boltzmann electron-energy distributions, whereas the fitting can be equally improved by introducing Kappa electron energy distributions or an additional Maxwell-Boltzmann component. We show that although H I free-bound emission alone cannot distinguish the two scenarios, it can provide important constraints on the electron energy distributions, especially for cold and low-Kappa plasmas.

Ramses-rt: radiation hydrodynamics in the cosmological context

We present a new implementation of radiation hydrodynamics (RHD) in the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) code RAMSES. The multi-group radiative transfer (RT) is performed on the AMR grid with a first-order Godunov method using the M1 closure for the Eddington tensor, and is coupled to the hydrodynamics via non-equilibrium thermochemistry of hydrogen and helium. This moment-based approach has the large advantage that the computational cost is independent of the number of radiative sources - it can even deal with continuous regions of emission such as bound-free emission from gas. As it is built directly into RAMSES, the RT takes natural advantage of the refinement and parallelization strategies already in place. Since we use an explicit advection solver for the radiative transport, the time step is restricted by the speed of light - a severe limitation that can be alleviated using the so--called "reduced speed of light" approximation. We propose a rigorous framework to assess the validity of this approximation in various conditions encountered in cosmology and galaxy formation. We finally perform with our newly developed code a complete suite of RHD tests, comparing our results to other RHD codes. The tests demonstrate that our code performs very well and is ideally suited for exploring the effect of radiation on current scenarios of structure and galaxy formation.

CHIANTI: An Atomic Database for Astrophysical Plasmas

The CHIANTI spectral code consists of two parts: an atomic database and a suite of computer programs, written in both the Python and IDL languages. Together, they allow the calculation of the optically thin spectrum of astrophysical objects and application of spectroscopic plasma diagnostics to astrophysical spectra. The database includes atomic energy levels; wavelengths; radiative transition probabilities; collision excitation rate coefficients; ionization and recombination rate coefficients; and data to calculate free-free, free-bound, and two-photon continuum emission. All data and programs are freely available at http://www.chiantidatabase.org and in SolarSoft, while the Python interface to CHIANTI can be found at http://chiantipy.sourceforge.net.

CHIANTI—AN ATOMIC DATABASE FOR EMISSION LINES. XIII. SOFT X-RAY IMPROVEMENTS AND OTHER CHANGES

The CHIANTI spectral code consists of two parts: an atomic database and a suite of computer programs in Python and IDL. Together, they allow the calculation of the optically thin spectrum of astrophysical objects and provide spectroscopic plasma diagnostics for the analysis of astrophysical spectra. The database includes atomic energy levels, wavelengths, radiative transition probabilities, collision excitation rate coefficients, ionization, and recombination rate coefficients, as well as data to calculate free-free, free-bound, and two-photon continuum emission. Version 7.1 has been released, which includes improved data for several ions, recombination rates, and element abundances. In particular, it provides a large expansion of the CHIANTI models for key Fe ions from Fe VIII to Fe XIV to improve the predicted emission in the 50-170 A wavelength range. All data and programs are freely available at http://www.chiantidatabase.org and in SolarSoft, while the Python interface to CHIANTI can be found at http://chiantipy.sourceforge.net.

CHIANTI—AN ATOMIC DATABASE FOR EMISSION LINES. XII. VERSION 7 OF THE DATABASE

The CHIANTI spectral code consists of an atomic database and a suite of computer programs to calculate the optically thin spectrum of astrophysical objects and carry out spectroscopic plasma diagnostics. The database includes atomic energy levels, wavelengths, radiative transition probabilities, collision excitation rate coefficients, and ionization and recombination rate coefficients, as well as data to calculate free-free, free-bound, and two-photon continuum emission. Version 7 has been released, which includes several new ions, significant updates to existing ions, as well as Chianti-Py, the implementation of CHIANTI software in the Python programming language. All data and programs are freely available at http://www.chiantidatabase.org, while the Python interface to CHIANTI can be found at http://chiantipy.sourceforge.net.

Height structure of X-ray, EUV, and white-light emission in a solar flare

The bulk of solar flare emission originates from very compact sources located in the lower solar atmosphere and seen in various wavelength ranges: near optical, UV, EUV, soft and hard X-rays, and gamma-ray emission, yet very few spatially resolved imaging observations to determine the structure of these regions exist. We investigate the above-the-photosphere heights of hard X-ray (HXR), EUV and white-light continuum sources in the low atmosphere and the corresponding densities at these heights. Simultaneous EUV/continuum images from SDO and HXR RHESSI images are compared to study a well observed gamma-ray limb flare. Using RHESSI X-ray visibilities we determine the height of the HXR sources as a function of energy above the photosphere. Co-aligning AIA/SDO and HMI/SDO images with RHESSI we infer, for the first time, the heights and characteristic densities of HXR, EUV and continuum sources in a flaring footpoint. 35-100 keV HXR sources are found at heights between 1.7 and 0.8 Mm above the photosphere, below the white-light continuum emission which appears at heights 1.5-3 Mm, and the peak of EUV emission originating near 3 Mm. The EUV emission locations are consistent with energy deposition from low energy electrons of ~12 keV occurring in the top layers of the fully ionized chromosphere/low corona and not by >20 keV electrons that produce HXR footpoints in the lower neutral chromosphere. The maximum of white-light emission appears between the HXR and EUV emission, presumably in the transition between ionized and neutral atmospheres suggesting free-bound and free-free continuum emission. We note that the energy deposited by low energy electrons is sufficient to explain the energetics of optical and UV emissions.

Infrared continuum sizes of Be star disks

AbstractLong baseline interferometry now offers us the opportunity to measure the dimensions of Be star circumstellar disks across the spectrum. This includes the near-infrared continuum where the emission is dominated by bound-free and free-free emission from the ionized disk gas. Here we present the results of calculations of the disk sizes and continuum flux excesses for a simple version of the viscous decretion model of the disk. We compare these results to recent 18 μm flux measurements from the AKARI infrared satellite all-sky survey.

Stationary inverted Lyman populations and free-free and bound-free emission of lower-energy state hydride ion formed by an exothermic catalytic reaction of atomic hydrogen and certain group I catalysts

Abstract Rb+ to Rb2+ and 2K+ to K + K2+ each provide a reaction with a net enthalpy equal to the potential energy of atomic hydrogen. The presence of these gaseous ions with thermally dissociated hydrogen formed a plasma having strong VUV emission with a stationary inverted Lyman population. Significant Balmer α line broadening of 18 and 9 eV was observed from a rt-plasma of hydrogen with KNO3, and RbNO3, respectively, compared to 3 eV from a hydrogen microwave plasma. The reaction was exothermic since excess power of about 20 mW/cc was measured by Calvet calorimetry. We propose an energetic catalytic reaction involving a resonance energy transfer between hydrogen atoms and Rb+ or 2K+ to form a very stable novel hydride ion. Its predicted binding energy of 3.0471 eV with the fine structure was observed at 4071 Å, and its predicted bound-free hyperfine structure lines matched those observed for about 40 lines to within.01 percent. Characteristic emission from each catalyst was observed. This catalytic reaction may pump a CW HI laser.

Argon K-shell and bound-free emission from OMEGA direct-drive implosion cores

We discuss calculations of synthetic spectra for the interpretation and analysis of K-shell and bound-free emission from argon-doped deuterium-filled OMEGA direct-drive implosion cores. The spectra are computed using a model that considers collisional-radiative atomic kinetics, continuum-lowering, detailed Stark-broadened line shapes, line overlapping, and radiation transport effects. The photon energy range covers the moderately optically thick n = 3 → n = 1 and n = 4 → n = 1 line transitions in He- and H-like Ar, their associated satellite lines in Li- and He-like Ar, and several radiative recombination edges. At the high-densities characteristic of implosion cores, the radiative recombination edges substantially shift to lower energies thus overlapping with several line transitions. We discuss the application of the spectra to spectroscopic analysis of doped implosion cores.

On the importance of the wind emission to the optical continuum of OB supergiants

Context. Thermal wind emission in the form of free-free and free-bound emission is known to show up in the infrared and radio continuum of hot and massive stars. For OB supergiants with moderate mass loss rates and a wind velocity distribution with $\beta$$\simeq$ 0.8 ... 1.0, no influence of the wind to the optical continuum, i.e. for $\lambda \la$ 1.0 $\mu$m, is expected. Investigations of stellar and wind parameters of OB supergiants over the last few years suggest, however, that for many objects $\beta$ is much higher than 1.0, reaching values up to 3.5. Aims. We investigate the influence of the free-free and free-bound emission on the emerging radiation, especially at optical wavelengths, from OB supergiants having wind velocity distributions with $\beta \ge$ 1.0. Methods. For the case of a spherically symmetric, isothermal wind in local thermodynamical equilibrium (LTE) we calculate the free-free and free-bound processes and the emerging wind and total continuum spectra. We localize the generation region of the optical wind continuum and especially focus on the influence of a $\beta$-type wind velocity distribution with $\beta$ > 1 on the formation of the wind continuum at optical wavelengths. Results. The optical wind continuum is found to be generated within about 2 $R_{\rm *}$ which is exactly the wind region where $\beta$ strongly influences the density distribution. We find that for $\beta$ > 1, the continuum of a typical OB supergiant can indeed be contaminated with thermal wind emission, even at optical wavelengths. The strong increase in the optical wind emission is dominantly produced by free-bound processes.