Optically-thin Plasma Research Articles

SITES: Solar Iterative Temperature Emission Solver for Differential Emission Measure Inversion of EUV Observations

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images of the optically-thin solar corona in multiple spectral channels give information on the emission as a function of temperature through differential emission measure (DEM) inversions. The aim of this paper is to describe, test, and apply a new DEM method named the Solar Iterative Temperature Emission Solver (SITES). The method creates an initial DEM estimate through a direct redistribution of observed intensities across temperatures according to the temperature response function of the measurement, and iteratively improves on this estimate through calculation of intensity residuals. It is simple in concept and implementation, is non-subjective in the sense that no prior constraints are placed on the solutions other than positivity and smoothness, and can process a thousand DEMs a second on a standard desktop computer. The resulting DEMs replicate model DEMs well in tests on Atmospheric Imaging Assembly/Solar Dynamics Observatory (AIA/SDO) synthetic data. The same tests show that SITES performs less well on very narrow DEM peaks, and should not be used for temperature diagnostics below {approx,}0.5~mbox{MK} in the case of AIA observations. The SITES accuracy of inversion compares well with two other established methods. A simple yet powerful new method to visualize DEM maps is introduced, based on a fractional emission measure (FEM). Applied to a set of AIA full-disk images, the SITES method and FEM visualization show very effectively the dominance of certain temperature regimes in different large-scale coronal structures. The method can easily be adapted for any multi-channel observations of optically-thin plasma and, given its simplicity and efficiency, will facilitate the processing of large existing and future datasets.

XMM-Newton observations of the symbiotic recurrent nova T CrB: evolution of X-ray emission during the active phase

ABSTRACT We present an analysis of the XMM-Newton observations of the symbiotic recurrent nova T CrB, obtained during its active phase which started in 2014–2015. The XMM-Newton spectra of T CrB have two prominent components: a soft one (0.2–0.6 keV), well represented by blackbody emission, and a heavily absorbed hard component (2–10 keV), well matched by optically-thin plasma emission with high temperature (kT ≈ 8 keV). The XMM-Newton observations reveal evolution of the X-ray emission from T CrB in its active phase. Namely, the soft component in its spectrum is decreasing with time, while the opposite is true for the hard component. Comparison with data obtained in the quiescent phase shows that the soft component is typical only for the active phase, while the hard component is present in both phases but it is considerably stronger in the quiescent phase. Presence of stochastic variability (flickering) on time-scales of minutes and hours is confirmed both in X-rays and UV (UVM2 filter of the XMM-Newton optical monitor). On the other hand, periodic variability of 6000–6500 s is found for the first time in the soft X-ray emission (0.2–0.6 keV) from T CrB. We associate this periodic variability with the rotational period of the white dwarf in this symbiotic binary.

An XMM–Newton observation of the symbiotic star AG Peg: the X-ray emission after the end of its 2015 outburst

We present an analysis of the XMM-Newton observation of the symbiotic star AG Peg, obtained after the end of its 2015 outburst. The X-ray emission of AG Peg is soft and of thermal origin. AG Peg is an X-ray source of class beta of the X-ray sources amongst the symbiotic stars, whose X-ray spectrum is well matched by a two-temperature optically-thin plasma emission (kT_1 ~ 0.14 keV and kT_2 ~ 0.66 keV). The X-ray emission of the class beta sources is believed to originate from colliding stellar winds (CSW) in binary system. If we adopt the CSW picture, the theoretical CSW spectra match well the observed properties of the XMM-Newton spectra of AG Peg. However, we need a solid evidence that a massive-enough hot-star wind is present in the post-outburst state of AG Peg to proof the validity of the CSW picture for this symbiotic binary. No short-term X-ray variability is detected while the UV emission of AG Peg shows stochastic variability (flickering) on time-scales of minutes and hours.

Studying the ICM in clusters of galaxies via surface brightness fluctuations of the cosmic X-ray background

We study the surface brightness fluctuations of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) using Chandra data of XBOOTES. After masking out resolved sources we compute the power spectrum of fluctuations of the unresolved CXB for angular scales from ~2 arcsec to ~3 deg. The non-trivial large-scale structure (LSS) signal dominates over the shot-noise of unresolved point sources at all scales above ~1 arcmin and is produced mainly by the intracluster medium (ICM) of unresolved clusters and groups of galaxies, as shown in our previous publication. The shot-noise-subtracted power spectrum of CXB fluctuations has a power-law shape with the slope of $\Gamma = 0.96 \pm 0.06$. Its energy spectrum is well described by the redshifted emission spectrum of optically-thin plasma with the best-fit temperature of $T \approx 1.3$ keV and the best-fit redshift of $z \approx 0.40$. They are in good agreement with theoretical expectations based on the X-ray luminosity function and scaling relations of clusters. From these values we estimate the typical mass and luminosity of the objects responsible for CXB fluctuations, $M_{500} \sim 10^{13.6}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}/h$ and $L_{0.5-2.0\,{\rm keV}} \sim 10^{42.5}$ erg/s. On the other hand, the flux-weighted mean temperature and redshift of resolved clusters are $T \approx 2.4$ keV and $z \approx 0.23$, confirming that fluctuations of unresolved CXB are caused by cooler (i.e. less massive) and more distant clusters, as expected. We show that the power spectrum shape is sensitive to the ICM structure all the way to the outskirts, out to $\sim{\rm few}\times R_{500}$. We also look for possible contribution of the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) to the observed CXB fluctuations. Our results underline the significant diagnostics potential of the CXB fluctuation analysis in studying the ICM structure in clusters.

Characterization of electrostatic shock in laser-produced optically-thin plasma flows using optical diagnostics

We present a method for evaluating the properties of electrostatic shock in laser-produced plasmas by using optical diagnostics. A shock is formed by a collimated jet in counter-streaming plasmas in nearly collisionless condition, showing the steepening of the transition width in time. In the present experiment, a streaked optical pyrometry was applied to evaluate the electron density and temperatures in the upstream and downstream regions of the shock so that the shock conditions are satisfied, by assuming thermal bremsstrahlung emission in optically thin plasmas. The derived electron densities are nearly consistent with those estimated from interferometry.

Differences between Doppler velocities of ions and neutral atoms in a solar prominence

In astrophysical systems with partially ionized plasma the motion of ions is governed by the magnetic field while the neutral particles can only feel the magnetic field's Lorentz force indirectly through collisions with ions. The drift in the velocity between ionized and neutral species plays a key role in modifying important physical processes like magnetic reconnection, damping of magnetohydrodynamic waves, transport of angular momentum in plasma through the magnetic field, and heating. This paper investigates the differences between Doppler velocities of calcium ions and neutral hydrogen in a solar prominence to look for velocity differences between the neutral and ionized species. We simultaneously observed spectra of a prominence over an active region in H I 397 nm, H I 434 nm, Ca II 397 nm, and Ca II 854 nm using a high dispersion spectrograph of the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida observatory, and compared the Doppler velocities, derived from the shift of the peak of the spectral lines presumably emitted from optically-thin plasma. There are instances when the difference in velocities between neutral atoms and ions is significant, e.g. 1433 events (~ 3 % of sets of compared profiles) with a difference in velocity between neutral hydrogen atoms and calcium ions greater than 3sigma of the measurement error. However, we also found significant differences between the Doppler velocities of two spectral lines emitted from the same species, and the probability density functions of velocity difference between the same species is not significantly different from those between neutral atoms and ions. We interpreted the difference of Doppler velocities as a result of motions of different components in the prominence along the line of sight, rather than the decoupling of neutral atoms from plasma.

X-rays from the episodic dust maker WR 137

We present an analysis of the XMM-Newton observation of the episodic dust maker WR 137. Global spectral fits show that its X-ray spectrum is well matched by a two-temperature optically-thin plasma emission (kT_1 ~ 0.4 keV and kT_2 ~ 2.2 keV). If we adopt the colliding stellar wind (CSW) picture for this wide WR+O binary, the theoretical CSW spectra match well the shape of the observed X-ray spectrum of WR 137 but they overestimate the observed flux (emission measure) by about two orders of magnitude. To reconcile the model predictions with observations, the mass loss of \WR must be reduced considerably (by about an order of magnitude) with respect to its currently accepted value. In all the spectral fits, the derived X-ray absorption is consistent with the optical extinction to WR 137.

On the diffuse X-ray emission from the Wolf–Rayet bubble NGC 2359

A recent XMM-Newton observation (Zhekov 2014) has revealed diffuse X-ray emission inside the nebula NGC 2359 around the Wolf-Rayet star WR 7. Taking advantage of an improved point-source rejection and background subtraction, and a detailed comparison of optical and X-ray morphology, we have reanalyzed these X-ray observations. Our analysis reveals diffuse X-ray emission from a blowout and the presence of emission at energies from 1.0 to 2.0 keV. The X-ray emission from NGC 2359 can be described by an optically-thin plasma emission model, but contrary to previous analysis, we find that the chemical abundances of this plasma are similar to those of the optical nebula, with no magnesium enhancement, and that two components at temperatures T_1=2x10^6 K and T_2=5.7x10^7 K are required. The estimated X-ray luminosity in the 0.3 - 2.0 keV energy range is L_X=2x10^33 erg s^-1. The averaged rms electron density of the X-ray-emitting gas (n_e \lesssim 0.6 cm^-3) reinforces the idea of mixing of material from the outer nebula into the hot bubble.

A fitting formula for radiative cooling based on non-local thermodynamic equilibrium population from weakly-ionized air plasma

A fitting formula for radiative cooling with collisional-radiative population for air plasma flowfield has been developed. Population number densities are calculated from rate equations in order to evaluate the effects of nonequilibrium atomic and molecular processes. Many elementary processes are integrated to be applied to optically-thin plasmas in the number density range of 1012/cm3 ≤ N ≤ 1019/cm3 and the temperature range of 300 K ≤ T ≤ 40,000 K. Our results of the total radiative emissivity calculated from the collisional-radiative population are fitted in terms of temperature and total number density. To validate the analytic fitting formula, numerical simulation of a laser-induced blast wave propagation with the nonequilibrium radiative cooling is conducted and successfully reproduces the shock and plasma wave front time history observed by experiments. In addition, from the comparison between numerical simulations with the radiation cooling effect based on the fitting formula and those with a gray gas radiation model that assumes local thermodynamic equilibrium, we find that the displacement of the plasma front is slightly different due to the deviation of population probabilities. By using the fitting formula, we can easily and more accurately evaluate the radiative cooling effect without solving detailed collisional-radiative rate equations.

Large grains in discs around young stars: ATCA observations of WW Chamaeleontis, RU Lupi, and CS Chamaeleontis

Context. Grains in discs around young stars grow from interstellar submicron sizes to planetesimals, up to thousands of kilometres in size, over the course of several Myr. Thermal emission of large grains or pebbles can be best observed at centimetre wavelengths. However, other emission mechanisms can contribute, most notably free-free emission from stellar winds and chromospheric activity.Aims. We aim to determine the mechanisms of centimetre emission for three T Tauri stars. WW Cha and RU Lup have recently been found to have grain growth at least up to millimetre sizes in their circumstellar discs, based on millimetre data up to 3.3 mm. CS Cha has similar indications of grain growth in its circumbinary disc.Methods. The T Tauri stars WW Cha and RU Lup were monitored over the course of several years at millimetre and centimetre wavelengths, using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). The new ATCA 7 mm system was also used to observe CS Cha at 7 mm.Results. WW Cha was detected on several occasions at 7 and 16 mm. We obtained one detection of WW Cha at 3.5 cm and upper limits only for 6.3 cm. The emission at 16 mm was stable over periods of days, months, and years, whereas the emission at 3.5 cm is found to be variable. A second young stellar object, Ced 112 IRS 4, was found in the field of WW Cha at 16 mm. RU Lup was detected at 7 mm. It was observed at 16 mm three times and at 3 and 6 cm four times and found to be variable in all three wavebands. CS Cha was detected at 7 mm, but the signal-to-noise ratio was not high enough to resolve the gap in the circumbinary disc. The typical resolution of the 7 and 16 mm observations was 5–10 arcsec with rms ~0.2 mJy. Conclusions. The emission at 3, 7, and 16 mm for WW Cha is explained well by thermal emission from millimetre and centimetre-sized “pebbles”. The cm spectral index between 3.5 and 6.3 cm is consistent with the emission from an optically-thick ionised wind, although the high variability of the cm emission points to a non-thermal contribution. The spectral energy distributions of both RU Lup and CS Cha from 1 to 7 mm are consistent with thermal emission from mm-sized grains. The variability of the longer-wavelength emission for RU Lup and the negative spectral index suggests non-thermal emission, arising from an optically-thin plasma.

Simulating radiative astrophysical flows with the PLUTO code: a non-equilibrium, multi-species cooling function

Context. Time-dependent cooling processes are of paramount importance in the evolution of astrophysical gaseous nebulae and, in particular, when radiative shocks are present. Given the recent improvements in resolution of the observational data, simulating these processes in a more realistic manner in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) codes will provide a unique tool for model discrimination.Aims. The present work introduces a necessary set of tools that can be used to model radiative astrophysical flows in the optically-thin plasma limit. We aim to provide reliable and accurate predictions of emission line ratios and radiative cooling losses in astrophysical simulations of shocked flows. Moreover, we discuss numerical implementation aspects to ease future improvements and implementation in other MHD numerical codes.Methods. The most important source of radiative cooling for our plasma conditions comes from the collisionally-excited line radiation. We evolve a chemical network, including 29 ion species, to compute the ionization balance in non-equilibrium conditions. The numerical methods are implemented in the PLUTO code for astrophysical fluid dynamics and particular attention has been devoted to resolve accuracy and efficiency issues arising from cooling timescales considerably shorter than the dynamical ones.Results. After a series of validations and tests, typical astrophysical setups are simulated in 1D and 2D, employing both the present cooling model and a simplified one. The influence of the cooling model on structure morphologies can become important, especially for emission line diagnostic purposes.Conclusions. The tests make us confident that the use of the presented detailed radiative cooling treatment will allow more accurate predictions in terms of emission line intensities and shock dynamics in various astrophysical setups.

A Deep X‐Ray Observation of NGC 4258 and Its Surrounding Field

We present a deep X-ray observation of the low-luminosity active galactic nucleus in NGC4258 (M106) using ASCA. The soft X-ray spectrum <2keV is dominated by thermal emission from optically-thin plasma with kT~0.5keV. The hard X-ray emission is clearly due to a power-law component with photon index Gamma=1.8 absorbed by a column density of N_H=8x10^22/cm^2. The power-law is readily identified with primary X-ray emission from the AGN central engine. We also clearly detect a narrow iron K-alpha emission line at 6.4keV. No broad component is detected. We suggest that the bulk of this narrow line comes from the accretion disk and, furthermore, that the power-law X-ray source which excites this line emission (which is typically identified with a disk corona) must be at least 100GM/c^2 in extent. This is in stark contrast to many higher-luminosity Seyfert galaxies which display a broad iron line indicating a small 10 GM/c^2 X-ray emitting region. It must be stressed that this study constrains the size of the X-ray emitting corona rather than the presence/absence of a radiatively efficient accretion disk in the innermost regions. If, instead, a substantial fraction of the observed narrow line originates from material not associated with the accretion disk, limits can be placed on the parameter space of possible allowed relativistically broad iron lines. By comparing our data with previous ASCA observations, we find marginal evidence for a change in absorbing column density through to the central engine, and good evidence for a change in the AGN flux.

RENDERING THREE-DIMENSIONAL SOLAR CORONAL STRUCTURES

An X-ray or EUV image of the corona or chromosphere is a 2D representation of an extended 3D complex for which a general inversion process is impossible. A specific model must be incorporated in order to understand the full 3D structure. We approach this problem by modeling a set of optically-thin 3D plasma flux tubes which we render these as synthetic images. The resulting images allow the interpretation of the X-ray/EUV observations to obtain information on (1) the 3D structure of X-ray images, i.e., the geometric structure of the flux tubes, and on (2) the internal structure using specific plasma characteristics, i.e., the physical structure of the flux tubes. The data-analysis technique uses magnetograms to characterize photospheric magnetic fields and extrapolation techniques to form the field lines. Using a new set of software tools, we have generated 3D flux tube structures around these field lines and integrated the plasma emission along the line of sight to obtain a rendered image. A set of individual flux-tube images is selected by a non-negative least-squares technique to provide a match with an observed X-ray image. The scheme minimizes the squares of the differences between the synthesized image and the observed image with a non-negative constraint on the coefficients of the brightness of the individual flux-tube loops. The derived images are used to determine the specific photospheric foot points and physical data, i.e., scaling laws for densities and loop lengths. The development has led to computer efficient integration and display software that is compatible for comparison with observations (e.g., Yohkoh SXT data, NIXT, or EIT). This analysis is important in determining directly the magnetic field configuration, which provides the structure of coronal loops, and indirectly the electric currents or waves, which provide the energy for the heating of the plasma. We have used very simple assumptions (i.e., potential magnetic fields and isothermal corona) to provide an initial test of the techniques before complex models are introduced. We have separated the physical and geometric contributions of the emission for a set of flux tubes and concentrated, in this initial study, on the geometric contributions by making approximations to the physical contributions. The initial results are consistent with the scaling laws derived from the Yohkoh SXT data.

Is the Accretion Flow in NGC 4258 Advection Dominated?

The mass of the central black hole in the active galaxy NGC 4258 (M106) has been measured to be $M=3.6\times10^7\Msun$ (Miyoshi et al. 1995). The Eddington luminosity corresponding to this mass is $L_E=4.5\times10^{45}$ erg s$^{-1}$. By contrast the X-ray luminosity of the nucleus of NGC 4258 between $2-10$ keV is $(4\pm 1)\times10^{40}~{\rm erg\,s^{-1}}$ while the optical/UV luminosity is less than $1.5\times10^{42} ~{\rm erg\,s^{-1}}$. The luminosity of NGC 4258 is therefore extremely sub-Eddington, $L\sim10^{-5}L_E$ in X-rays and $L\sim3\times10^{-4} L_E$ even if we take the maximum optical/UV luminosity. Assuming the usual accretion efficiency of 0.1 would imply accretion rates orders of magnitude lower than in Seyfert galaxies and quasars. We show that the properties of the AGN in NGC 4258 can be explained by an accretion flow in the form of a very hot, optically-thin plasma which advects most of the viscously generated thermal energy into the central black hole and radiates only a small fraction of the energy. In this case the accretion rate in Eddington units could be as high as $\sim 0.16\alpha$, where $\alpha$ is the standard viscosity parameter; and the size of the hot disk should be larger than $\sim 10$ times the Schwarzschild radius. We compare the predictions of this model with observations and discuss its application to other low luminosity AGN.

Spectroscopic EUVE Observations of the Active Star AB Doradus

We present observations of the pre-Main Sequence, rapidly-rotating (0.515 day) late-type star, AB Doradus (HD 36705), made by the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite. A high-quality spectrum was accumulated between November 4-11, 1993, with an effective exposure time of about 40 hours. The data constrain the coronal temperature structure between several 104 K up to roughly 2 × 107 K through a differential emission measure analysis using an optically-thin plasma model. The resulting differential emission measure (DEM) distribution shows: a) dominant emission from plasma between about 2 × 106 K and 2 × 107 K, b) very little emission from plasma between 105 K and 2 × 106 K, and c) emission from plasma below about 105 K. If solar photospheric abundances are assumed, then the formal DEM solution also requires the presence of a strong high-temperature component (above about 3 × 107 K) in order to fit the strong continuum emission below about 150 Å; however, we believe that this component of the solution is not physical. The DEM analysis gives a best-fit value for the interstellar hydrogen column density of NH = (2.4 ± 0.5) × 1018 cm−2.

Refractive-ray bending in axially- symmetric plasma sources

It has been shown that the refraction of radiation in circularly symmetrical, optically-thin plasma sources may be the cause of systematic errors in spectroscopic measurements. The magnitude of this error depends upon the refractive index gradient and the plasma length. A numerical procedure is described which permits evaluation of the light trajectory in an axisymmetric plasma.

Recombination between electrons and atomic ions, I. Optically thin plasmas

Consideration is given to the interacting collisional and radiative processes occurring in a plasma. A statistical theory describing the general loss mechanism, for which the name collisional-radiative recombination is proposed, is described. This theory enables the collisional-radiative recombination coefficient a to be determined knowing the relevant spontaneous transition probabilities and the rate coefficients for radiative recombination and collisional excitation and ionization. Detailed calculations are carried out on hydrogen-ion plasm as which are optically thin. It is found that α is an increasing function of the number density of free electron n(c) the increase being especially marked if the electron temperature T is low; for example, if T is 250 °K α becomes almost 20 times as great as the radiative recombination coefficient (which describes the loss in a very tenuous plasma) when n(c) is only about 10 8 /cm 3 , whereas if T is 64 000°K a does not become as great as this until n(c) is about 10 18 /cm 3 . From a similar investigation in which the ground level of the hydrogen atom is made inaccessible (in crude representation of an alkali atom) it is inferred that the value of a is probably not very sensitive to the species of singly charged ion involved. Recombination of electrons with bare nuclei of charge Ze to form hydrogenic ions is similarly treated for an optically thin plasma. It is shown that to a close approximation the reduced coefficient α/ Z is a function of a reduced tem perature T/Z 2 and a reduced number density n(c)/Z 7 only. The values of the reduced coefficients are of com parable m agnitude and have a similar dependence of the reduced temperature and density as the coefficients for hydrogen ion plasmas. The variation of the recombination coefficient α with Z in the same plasma (i.e. same n(c) and T ) is investigated. It may be expressed in the form a α ∝ Z z where the index z depends on n(c) and T . Though z is generally positive as would be expected, it is negative if n(c) and T are very high. A physical explanation of this is presented.