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Rotational intensity distribution of vacuum UV ABSORPTION spectrum bands of carbon monoxide arising through mixing of D state with neighboring states
In March 2002, we began a program in laboratory spectroscopy to provide accurate molecular line frequencies essential to studies of the motions and abundance in star-forming dense cores and planet-forming circumstellar disks. Summarized here is the progress that has been made in Year 3 of this grant. Work included measurement of 10 successive rotational lines in the ground vibrational state of SiO between 86 and 500 GHz, and two lines near 800 GHz to an accuracy of a few kHz; conducting pilot experiments on molecular ions in collision-free supersonic beams, including HCO+, N2H+, and H2D+; measurement of 22 lines of CN between 113 and 340 GHz; and setting up an experiment that would allow us to refine earlier measurements of the neutral species such as C3H2, CCS, H2CS, and SO by observing the very narrow sub-Doppler (Lamb dip) features in the millimeter-wave spectra of these species.
Recent developments in the study of accretion flows in binary X-ray systems are reviewed, concentrating on issues concerning the gas flows rather than the radiation mechanisms. A model for Her X-1 is presented which illustrates the main structures expected to exist in the case where mass transfer is by Roche-lobe overflow and the X-ray source is a rotating magnetized neutron star. A model for Cyg X-1 is given which shows the accretion-flow structures to be expected if the compact object is a black hole, including an accretion wake and a very small accretion disk around the black hole. Physical parameters of the accretion flows in these two instances are examined along with some scale lengths that may be derived from these parameters by dimensional analysis. Detailed attention is given to neutron-star magnetospheres (for slow, intermediate, and fast rotators), accretion-disk structure, accretion from stellar winds, and the relationship between X-rays and the gas dynamics of accretion flows. It is suggested that accretion flows in binary X-ray systems be observed directly by means of high-resolution UV and X-ray spectroscopy.
A method of optical thermometry, now undergoing development, involves low-resolution measurement of the spectrum of spontaneous Raman scattering (SRS) from N2 and O2 molecules. The method is especially suitable for measuring temperatures in high pressure combustion environments that contain N2, O2, or N2/O2 mixtures (including air). Methods based on SRS (in which scattered light is shifted in wavelength by amounts that depend on vibrational and rotational energy levels of laser-illuminated molecules) have been popular means of probing flames because they are almost the only methods that provide spatially and temporally resolved concentrations and temperatures of multiple molecular species in turbulent combustion. The present SRS-based method differs from prior SRS-based methods that have various drawbacks, a description of which would exceed the scope of this article. Two main differences between this and prior SRS-based methods are that it involves analysis in the frequency (equivalently, wavelength) domain, in contradistinction to analysis in the intensity domain in prior methods; and it involves low-resolution measurement of what amounts to predominantly the rotational Raman spectra of N2 and O2, in contradistinction to higher-resolution measurement of the vibrational Raman spectrum of N2 only in prior methods.
A spectrometer capable of detecting ozone absorption features 9 orders of magnitude weaker than the Hartley band has been employed to investigate the molecule's near-infrared absorption spectrum. At this sensitivity a wealth of information on the low-lying electronically excited states often believed to play a role in atmospheric chemistry is available in the form of vibrational and rotational structure. We have analyzed these spectra using a combination of digital filtering and isotope substitution and find evidence for three electronically excited states below 1.5 eV. The lowest of these states is metastable, bound by approximately 0.1 eV and probably the (3)A2 rather than the (3)B2 state. Its adiabatic electronic energy is 1.24 +/- 0.01 eV, slightly above the dissociation energy of the ground state. Two higher states, at 1.29 +/- 0.03 and 1.48 +/- 0.03 eV are identified as the (3)B2 and the (3)B1, respectively. Combined with other recent theoretical and experimental data on the low-lying electronic states of ozone, these results imply that these are, in fact, the lowest three excited states; that is, there are no electronically excited states of ozone lying below the energy of O(3P) + O2((3)Sigma(-), v = 0). Some of the implications for atmospheric chemistry are considered.
High-resolution heterodyne spectroscopic studies of the atmosphere of Venus are surveyed with attention to Doppler shifts in the 10-micron CO2 lines. While the C-12(O-16)2 emission lines formed in the mesosphere near 115 km indicate that the winds are distinctly subsolar to antisolar, C-13(O-16)2 absorption lines for the stratosphere at about 75 km confirm that the pattern is a strong retrograde rotation with an average equatorial velocity of 90 plus or minus 7 m/sec. It is concluded that the winds change from retrograde to subsolar-to-antipolar between 80 and 115 km.
Emission spectra of the hydroxyl radical have been recorded between 450 and 4200/cm at 0.0027/cm unapodized resolution from an air+oxygen+water vapor plasma, using a surface microwave discharge. The characteristics of the source are described. The emission spectra were recorded with the F.T. spectrometer using a GeCu detector and KCl beams plitter. High J values were observed both for the pure rotational transition in v=0 and v=1 vibrational levels, and for the rovibrational transition in the 0-1 and 1-2 bands. The set of line intensity data will be used to compute the electric dipole moment function of OH.
Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectral data have been recorded in the spectral region 400-4000/cm of hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide with I/cm resolution and of nitric oxide with 0.25 cm-i resolution, under quasi-static conditions, when the sample gas was passed through tubings of aluminum, copper, stainless steel and teflon. The absorbance was measured for the rotational lines of the fundamental bands of (1)H(35)Cl and (1)H(37)Cl for pressures in the range 100-1000 Torr and for the (14)N(16)O molecule in the range 100-300 Torr. The absorbance was also measured for individual rotational lines corresponding to the three modes of vibrations (upsilon(sub 1) - symmetric stretch, upsilon(sub 2) - symmetric bend, upsilon(sub 3) - anti-symmetric stretch) of the SO2 molecule in the pressure range 25-150 Torr. A graph of absorbance versus pressure was plotted for the observed rotational transitions of the three atmospherically significant molecules, and it was found that the absorbance was linearly proportional to the pressure range chosen, thereby validating Beer's law. The absorption cross-sections were determined from the graphical slopes for each rotational transition recorded for the HCl, NO and SO2 species. Qualitative and quantitative spectral changes in the FT-IR data will be discussed to identify and characterize various tubing materials with respect to their absorption features.
Methanol (CH3OH) radiates efficiently at infrared wavelengths, dominating the C-H stretching region in comets, yet inadequate quantum-mechanical models have imposed limits on the practical use of its emission spectra. Accordingly, we constructed a new line-by-line model for the 3 fundamental band of methanol at 2844 / cm (3.52 micron) and applied it to interpret cometary fluorescence spectra. The new model permits accurate synthesis of line-by-line spectra for a wide range of rotational temperatures, ranging from 10 K to more than 400 K.We validated the model by comparing simulations of CH3OH fluorescent emission with measured spectra of three comets (C/2001 A2 LINEAR, C/2004 Q2 Machholz and 8P/Tuttle) acquired with high-resolution infrared spectrometers at high-altitude sites. The new model accurately describes the complex emission spectrum of the nu3 band, providing distinct rotational temperatures and production rates at greatly improved confidence levels compared with results derived from earlier fluorescence models. The new model reconciles production rates measured at infrared and radio wavelengths in C/2001 A2 (LINEAR). Methanol can now be quantified with unprecedented precision and accuracy in astrophysical sources through high-dispersion spectroscopy at infrared wavelengths
The 3P1 - 3P2 fine structure line emission from neutral atomic oxygen at 63 microns in the vicinity of the galactic center was mapped. The emission is extended over more than 4' (12 pc) along the galactic plane, centered on the position of Sgr A West. The line center velocities show that the O I gas is rotating around the galactic center with an axis close to that of the general galactic rotation, but there appear also to be noncircular motions. The rotational velocity at R is approximately 1 pc corresponds to a mass within the central pc of about 3 x 10(6) solar mass. Between 1 and 6 pc from the center the mass is approximately proportional to radius. The (O I) line probability arises in a predominantly neutral, atomic region immediately outside of the ionized central parsec of out galaxy. Hydrogen densities in the (O I) emitting region are 10(3) to 10(6) cm(-3) and gas temperatures are or = 100 K. The total integrated luminosity radiated in the line is about 10(5) solar luminosity, and is a substantial contribution to the cooling of the gas. Photoelectric heating or heating by ultraviolet excitation of H2 at high densities (10(5) cm(-3)) are promising mechanisms for heating of the gas, but heating due to dissipation of noncircular motions of the gas may be an alternative possibility. The 3P1 - 3P0 fine structure line of (O III) at 88 microns toward Sgr A West was also detected. The (O III) emission comes from high density ionized gas (n 10(4) cm(-3)), and there is no evidence for a medium density region (n 10(3) cm(-3)), such as the ionized halo in Sgr A West deduced from radio observations. This radio halo may be nonthermal, or may consist of many compact, dense clumps of filaments on the inner edges of neutral condensations at R or = 2 pc.
The first characterization of the bending potential of the C7 cluster is reported via the observation of the v = 1(1) and v = 2 deg levels of the nu11 (pi u) bend as hot bands associated with the nu4 (sigma u) antisymmetric stretch fundamental. The lower state hot band rotational constants are measured to be 1004.4(1.3) and 1123.6(9.0) MHz, constituting a 9.3 and 22 percent increase over the ground state rotational constant, 918.89 (41) MHz. These large increases are strong quartic and sextic centrifugal distortion constants determined for the ground and nu 4 = 1 states are found to be anomalously large and negative, evidencing strong perturbations between stretching and bending modes.
We report electron-impact induced fluorescence spectra [300 mA full width at half maximum (FWHM)] of CO for 20 and 100 eV impact energies of the spectral region of 1300 to 2050 A and high resolution spectra (FWHM) of the v'=5 to v"=l and the v'=3 to v"=O bands showing that the rotational structure of the band system are modeled accurately. The excitation function of the (0,1) band (1597 A) was measured from electron impact in the energy range from threshold to 750 eV and placed on an absolute scale from modem calibration standards.
The technique of laser heterodyne spectroscopy has been applied to the measurement of solar oscillations. Coherent mixing of solar radiation with the output of a frequency-stabilized CO2 laser permits the measurement of fully resolved profiles of solar absorption lines with high spectral purity and excellent frequency stability. This technique has been used to measure OH pure rotation lines in the infrared solar spectrum. Power spectra of these line frequency measurements show the well-known 5-min oscillations as well as significant velocity power at shorter periods.
A review of ground based mid-infrared uniquely high spectral. resolution measurements of Venus dynamics, temperature, and chemistry will be presented. The described studies will focus on the use of CO2 absorption features and the discovery- and use of CO2 thermospheric non-thermal emission: lines as probes of Venus' atmosphere, from the cloud tops to approx.120 km in the thermosphere. The first investigations using infrared heterodyne spectroscopy with resolving power lambda/Delta(lambda) approx. 10(exp 6) to measure true emission line profiles and to determine their non-thermal nature and lasing component will be described. The use of the thermospheric non-thermal CO2 emission to directly measure sub-solar to anti-solar winds and zonal circulation near 110 km altitudes on Venus to approx.2 m/s accuracy will also be described. The measured emission lures are also used to obtain global maps of mesospheric/thermospheric kinetic and rotational temperatures as well as to obtain evidence of the natural lasing phenomena. Carbon dioxide absorption features globally probe lower altitudes in the atmosphere and can be used to determine nightside temperatures. Isotopic 13 CO2 absorption lines are used to probe deeper in the atmosphere to measure the sub-solar to anti-solar return flow at altitudes just above the cloud tops. These results provided a model for global circulation in the 65 - 120 km altitude region first proposed by Goldstein (1989, PhD.Thesis, U. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA). Results of similar wind and temperature measurements made in recent years will be compared to earlier results to investigate changes in the circulation and temperatures since approx.1990. The high resolution infrared heterodyne technique was also used to investigate chemical processes above the cloud tops, specifically evidence and constraints on oxygen-based chemistry. Described measurements were made by infrared heterodyne spectroscopy using the Goddard Space Flight Center Infrared Heterodyne Spectrometer (IRHS) the GSFC Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary wind And Composition (HIPWAC) and the University of Cologne Tuneable Heterodyne Infrared Spectrometer (THIS).
The Ultraviolet Spectrometer and Polarimeter on the Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft is described. It is pointed out that the instrument, which operates in the wavelength range 1150-3600 A, has a spatial resolution of 2-3 arcsec and a spectral resolution of 0.02 A FWHM in second order. A Gregorian telescope, with a focal length of 1.8 m, feeds a 1 m Ebert-Fastie spectrometer. A polarimeter comprising rotating Mg F2 waveplates can be inserted behind the spectrometer entrance slit; it permits all four Stokes parameters to be determined. Among the observing modes are rasters, spectral scans, velocity measurements, and polarimetry. Examples of initial observations made since launch are presented.
Mars airglow spectra obtained by the ultraviolet spectrometer on board the Mariner 9 spacecraft were analyzed by using a high-resolution synthesis of the observed emissions. Bright limb observations were made of altitudes between 88 and 180 km of which the brightest features are the carbon monoxide Cameron bands in the wavelength region 1800-2600 A. The shape of these bands cannot be characterized by a single rotational temperature, but is best described by temperatures of 1600 K for lower J values and 10,000 K for higher J values. The observed zenith intensity of 16.7 kR is in good agreement with an excitation theory in which electron-impact dissociation is the most important mechanism. The observations suggest the value of the cross section for this process should be 7 x 10 to the -17th/sq cm. The first negative bands of CO(+) are not identified in the Mariner 9 spectra. This is consistent with the excitation theory for these bands.
Deep Chandra ACIS observations of the region around the putative pulsar, CXOU J061705.3+222117, in the supernova remnant IC443 reveal, for the first time, a ring-like morphology surrounding the pulsar and a jet-like structure oriented roughly north-south across the ring and through the pulsar location. The observations further confirm that (1) the spectrum and flux of the central object are consistent with a rotation-powered pulsar interpretation, (2) the non-thermal surrounding nebula is likely powered by the pulsar wind, and (3) the thermal-dominated spectrum at greater distances is consistent with emission from the supernova remnant. The cometary shape of the nebula, suggesting motion towards the southwest (or, equivalently, flow of ambient medium to the northeast), appears to be subsonic; there is no evidence for a strong bow shock, and the circular ring is not distorted by motion through the ambient medium.
We describe a new software package that may be used to determine stellar and atomic parameters by matching observed spectra with synthetic spectra generated from parameterized atmospheres. A nonlinear least squares algorithm is used to solve for any subset of allowed parameters, which include atomic data (log gf and van der Waals damping constants), model atmosphere specifications (T(sub eff, log g), elemental abundances, and radial, turbulent, and rotational velocities. LTE synthesis software handles discontiguous spectral intervals and complex atomic blends. As a demonstration, we fit 26 Fe I lines in the NSO Solar Atlas (Kurucz et al.), determining various solar and atomic parameters.