Dielectronic Recombination Data for Dynamic Finite-Density Plasmas: Goals and Methodology - I
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The results of calculations of the ionization equilibrium and radiative energy loss rates for C, N and O ions in low-density plasmas are presented for electron temperatures in the range 10,000-10,000,000 K. The ionization structure is determined by using the steady-state corona model, in which electron impact ionization from the ground states is balanced by direct radiative and dielectronic recombination. With an improved theory, detailed calculations are carried out for the dielectronic recombination rates in which account is taken of all radiative and autoionization processes involving a single-electron electric-dipole transition of the recombining ion. The radiative energy loss processes considered are electron-impact excitation of resonance line emission, direct radiative recombination, dielectronic recombination, and electron-ion bremsstrahlung. For all three elements, resonance line emission resulting from 2s-2p transitions produces a broad maximum in the energy loss rate near 100,000 K.
The paper extends and improves the radiative cooling coefficient calculations of Cox and Tucker (1969) and Cox and Daltabuit (1971) for a low-density optically thin plasma with no molecules or dust, of cosmic abundances in the range from 10,000 to 100,000,000 K. Earlier rates applied to a plasma containing H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, and S; the present study added Ca, Fe, and Ni. For the elements included, many individual lines are calculated which previously has been averaged together. The cooling processes considered are permitted, forbidden, and semiforbidden line transitions, including contributions from dielectronic recombination and bremsstrahlung, radiative recombination, and two-photon continua. The ionization balance is calculated in collisional equilibrium using an approximate auto-ionization following inner-shell excitation and the low-density limit for the dielectronic recombination rate. Cooling in various observational bands in the soft X-ray region is determined.
In the past few years important progress has been made on the knowledge of ionization and recombination rates of iron, an astrophysically abundant heavy element and a major impurity in laboratory fusion devices. We make a critical review of the existing data on ionization and dielectronic recombination and present new computations of radiative recombination rate coefficients of Fe(+14) through Fe(+25) using the photoionization cross sections of Clark et al. (1986). We provide analytical fits to the recommended data (direct ionization and excitation-autoionization cross sections; radiative and dielectronic recombination rate coefficients). Finally we determine the iron ionic fractions at ionization equilibrium and compare them with previous computations as well as with observational data.
The temperature dependence of the Si XII n=3 and n=4 dielectronic satellite line features at 5.82A and 5.56A respectively, near the Si XIII 1s(sup 2)-1s3p and 1s(sup 2)-1s4p lines (5.681A and 5.405A), is calculated using atomic data presented here. The resulting theoretical spectra are compared with solar flare spectra observed by the RESIK spectrometer on the CORONAS-F spacecraft. The satellites, like the more familiar n=2 satellites near the Si XIII 1s(sup 2)-1s2p lines, are formed mostly by dielectronic recombination, but unlike the n=2 satellites are unblended. The implications for similar satellite lines in flare Fe spectra are discussed.
O, Ne, Si and Fe ionization equilibria in low density plasma, including dielectronic recombination and autoionization processes in calculations
H-He partially ionized plasma bremsstrahlung, radiative and dielectronic recombination, discrete levels excitation and collisional ionization
An ultraviolet spectrum of NGC 7027 was obtained with a rocket-borne telescope. The observed fluxes are given on an absolute basis and upper limits are given for the strongest predicted lines which were not observed. The extinction correction was made on the basis of the observed and calculated line ratios for the hydrogenic recombination line of He 2 at 1640A to H beta. The extinction is in agreement with ground based determinations. When corrected for extinction the C 4 resonance line at 1549A is in good agreement with the intensity calculated from models, but the C 3 intercombination line at 1909A is a factor of ten too bright. The addition of dielectronic recombination to the models sufficiently changes the C 3 concentration to reduce the discrepancy to a factor of four. The abundance of carbon is assumed to be 2 x 0.0001 that of hydrogen. Using carbon abundances for the sun, this discrepancy disappears and there must be attenuation in the C 4 line. Since the optical depth is approximately 10,000 at the line center, no appreciable number of absorbing grains can exist in the C 4 producing region of the nebula.
Line profiles of 36 multiplets of silicon (Si) II, III, and IV were computed for a grid of model atmospheres covering the range from 15,000 to 35,000 K in effective temperature and 2.5 to 4.5 in log (gravity). The computations involved simultaneous solution of the steady-state statistical equilibrium equations for the populations and of the equation of radiative transfer in the lines. The variables were linearized, and successive corrections were computed until a minimal accuracy of 1/1000 in the line intensities was reached. The common assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) was dropped. The model atmospheres used also were computed by non-LTE methods. Some effects that were incorporated into the calculations were the depression of the continuum by free electrons, hydrogen and ionized helium line blocking, and auto-ionization and dielectronic recombination, which later were found to be insignificant. Use of radiation damping and detailed electron (quadratic Stark) damping constants had small but significant effects on the strong resonance lines of Si III and IV. For weak and intermediate-strength lines, large differences with respect to LTE computations, the results of which are also presented, were found in line shapes and strengths. For the strong lines the differences are generally small, except for the models at the hot, low-gravity extreme of our range. These computations should be useful in the interpretation of the spectra of stars in the spectral range B0-B5, luminosity classes III, IV, and V.
We have constructed a nonhydrodynamic coronal model for calculating radiation from impurity atoms in a heated plasma. Some recent developments in the calculation of dielectronic recombination rate coefficients and collisional excitation rate coefficients are included. The model is applied to oxygen impurity radiation during the first few milliseconds of a TFR Tokamak plasma discharge, and good agreement with experimental results is obtained. Estimates of total line and continuum radiation from the oxygen impurity are given. It is shown that impurity radiation represents a considerable energy loss.
New observations of solar flare and active region X-ray spectra obtained with the Columbia University instrument on OSO-8 are presented and discussed. The high sensitivity of the graphite crystal panel has allowed both line and continuum spectra to be served with moderate spectral resolution. Observations with higher spectral resolution have been made with a panel of pentaerythritol crystals. Twenty-nine lines between 1.5 and 7.0 A have been resolved and identified, including several dielectronic recombination satellite lines to Si XIV and Si XIII lines which have been observed for the first time. It has been found that thermal continuum models specified by single values of temperature and emission measure have fitted the data adequately, there being good agreement with the values of these parameters derived from line intensity ratios.
The 1.9 A feature, observed in the X-ray spectra of three solar flares with the Columbia University and Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory spectrometers on the OSO 8 satellite, is shown to be due to a blend of 1s-2p transitions in a range of Fe ions. In the temperature range 9-16 x -10 to the 6th K, the feature has a mean wavelength of 1.900 + or - 0.009 A and is 0.04 A wider than a single line, indicating that the main contributors are Fe XIX-Fe XXII. Most of the emission originates from the dielectronic recombination process, and when inner-shell excitation is included together with normal collisional excitation, the observed intensity of the feature can be accounted for adequately. For these events, if the electron density is below approximately 10 to the 12th/cu cm, deviations from ionization equilibrium will be significant for ions more highly ionized than Fe XXI.
A set of computer models for the evolution of intercluster matter (ICM) in expanding cosmologies which includes processes of electron impact ionization/excitation, radiative and dielectronic recombination, thermal bremsstrahlung, Compton scattering, and photoionization is presented. The thermal, ionization, and excitation histories of major constituents were found as functions of time, and predictions of emission spectra, the possible distortions of the cosmic 3 K microwave background, and optical depths of absorption troughs in QSO continua at various redshifts were obtained. It is concluded that the present Friedmann cosmology can be dominated by hot intercluster matter which would contain H and He in their cosmic ratio and traces of heavier elements. For a narrow range of parameters it is possible to generate cosmologies with a closure density of ICM which do not exceed the diffuse X-ray measurements. In open cosmologies distortion of the 3 K microwave background occurs, while closed cases show negligible change from the unperturbed spectrum.
The ion-electron recombination coefficients for the lithium-like ions C IV, O VI, Ne VIII, Si XII and Ar XVI are computed by the bottleneck method of Byron et al. (1962). In this method, the minimum rate of transitions down the ladder of energy level is taken as the limiting recombination rate, and the particular energy level corresponding to the minimum transition rate is found. The partial collisional radiative recombination coefficient is obtained in terms of the equilibrium population, the rate of collisional de-excitation, the mean radiative transition probability from the bottleneck level and the total transition probability from a level above the bottleneck level to all levels below it. The full collisional-radiative recombination is then obtained by the addition of the values of the radiative recombination coefficient and the three-body recombination coefficient to the ground level. Results of the calculation are shown to be in good agreement with those of Drawin and Emard (1975) for the case of hydrogen. It is also noted that the process of dielectronic recombination, which is not accounted for here, may be significant at lower densities.
High-resolution X-ray spectra of six class X1-X5 solar flares are discussed. The spectra were recorded by spaceborne Bragg crystal spectrometers in the ranges 1.82-1.97, 2.98-3.07 and 3.14-3.24 A. Electron temperatures derived from dielectronic satellite line to resonance line ratios for Fe XXV and Ca XIX are found to remain fairly constant around 22,000,000 and 16,000,000 K respectively during the rise phase of the flares, then decrease by approximately 6,000,000 K during the decay phase. Nonthermal motions derived from line widths for the April 27, 1979 event are found to be greatest during the rise phase (approximately 130 km/sec) and decrease to about 60 km/sec during decay. Volume emission measures for Fe XXV, Ca XIX and Ca XX are derived from photon fluxes as a function of temperature, and examination of the intensity behavior of the Fe K alpha emission as a function of time indicates that it is a result of fluorescence. Differences between the present and previous observations of temperature variation are discussed, and it is concluded that the flare plasmas are close to ionization equilibrium for the flares investigated.
Radiative recombination coefficients for all Fe ions are calculated by use of the Milne relation of detailed balance. Analytic fits are made to the dielectronic recombination rates computed by Jacobs (1977) and the Burgess general formula (1965). Higher level rates are treated hydrogenically by a quantum defect method based on the energies of the levels. Recombination coefficients for Fe I to Fe 26 are listed.
The paper presents new calculations of ionization equilibrium fractions of 11 abundant elements (C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, Fe, Ni) as functions of temperature. Convenient coefficients for fitting the rates of collisional ionization, radiative recombination, and dielectronic recombination are also tabulated. Many of the ionization rates are based on recent experimental measurements of cross sections for collisional ionization and autoionization following inner-shell excitation. These rates are used elsewhere in computations of nonequilibrium ionization, radiative cooling, radiative shock models, and plasma emission diagnostics.