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AGN-3: HR-2007
Overview
Hot gas radiates
Continuum emission
Thermal emission / black-body radiation (RL 1.5)
Bremsstrahlung (free-free) (KN 4.5)
Synchrotron radiation (KN 3.2-3.4, 3.5,3.6)
Thomson scattering (KN 4.1)
Compton and inverse compton scattering (KN 4.2)
Pair production/annihilation radiation
Line emission
bound-bound; bound-free
If gas is optically thick: Absorption
Here: Continuum emission
Plus: the torus contains dust particles with a range of sizes and temperatures
that emit (modified) black body radiation
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Black-body radiation
Q: Is the BB spectrum modified if the black box is painted blue?
Thermal emission of optically thick gas
a. Rayleigh-Jeans limit: (radio regime)
b. Wien limit:
c. Monotonicity with temperature: of two black body curve the one with the
higher temperature lies entirely above the other
d. Wien displacement law: peak frequency/wavelength shifts linearly with T
(Note:
P= A T4 (A: area)
This also defines the effective temperature as the temperature Teff that gives a
total emitted power equivalent to the total power observed.
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RL p.
161
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Where
Cooling time
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Synchrotron radiation
Radiation from relativistic particles moving in a B-field
RL 6; KN 3
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Angular dependence of
radiation from a accelerated
charged particle (RL3.3)
Polar diagram is a dipole:
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Relativistic case:
F=-e (v x B)
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Synchrotron radiation
Relativistic particle, moving at pitch angle to B-field: (RL $ 6; KN $ 3; K $ 9.2)
- No radiation when =0
- Strongly forward beamed when 0
- Polarized
- Contribution by electrons dominates
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Gyration frequency
(KN 3.13)
With energy emitted per unit time:
with E: energy electron
And the function F defined as
the modified Bessel function of order 5/3
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General result
In the case of extended, transparent radio sources the observed range of
spectral indices 0.5< < 1, leads to 2 < p < 3.
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Radiation losses
A radiating electron loses energy at a rate
Time taken by the electron to loose half its energy:
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Polarization
B is magnetic field
projected on plane of sky
P synchrotron power emitted
perpendicular to B
B|| ...
Synchrotron radiation of ensemble
of particles with isotropic distribution
of angles is linearly polarized
General result for degree of polarization
with
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K eq. (9.29) gives A(p) for isotropic pitch angle distribution and power-law
electron distribution; see also KN $ 3.5.1
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-6
-4
Total pressure
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Scattering of a photon by an
electron
1. low energies h << mc2
Thomson scattering
2. high energies h ~ mc2
Compton scattering.
3. in scattering process photon
gains energy
inverse Compton scattering
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Thomson scattering
Scattering of an electromagnetic wave incident
on an electron in the case h << mc2 = 511 keV
applicable for optical photons
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Compton scattering
In the scattering process energy is transferred from the photon to the electron
Compton scattering becomes important for X-rays, and dominates in gammaregime
A result (KN 4.2)
Cross-section : Klein-Nishina
formula (KN eqs 4.6 & 4.7)
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Net effect scattered light minus energy incident on electron per unit
time: (use 2-1 =2 2)
Recall:
So that
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Repeated scattering
In a thermal scattering medium with T << mc2/k (6 109 K) electrons are non-relativistic
and the average energy exchange per scattering between a photon and an electron
is (RL79):
When
When
there is equilibrium
The Comptonization parameter y indicates whether a photon will significantly change its
energy when crossing the medium (KN $ 4.3)
y = { average fractional energy change per scattering} { mean number of scatterings}
y > 1 spectrum altered
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= 2 ( >> 1)
= ( << 1)
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Taken together
Nsc (1+)
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Assignment
1. Derive that the number of scatterings before escape
Nsc is given by: Nsc 2
(See KN 4.3 or RL 1.7)
2. Derive
Starting from
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Assuming
After dN scatterings:
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Compton catastrophe:
In compact high luminosity sources, as a result of multiple up-scattering
the electron will lose their energy very rapidly to high energy photons
produces catastrophic energy losses of electrons, so that source is
quenched
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Compton catastrophy
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Rewrite, using
When T > 1012, Lc dominates, and rapid Compton cooling sets in:
the Compton catastrophe.
Sources with intrinsic (=unbeamed) brightness temperatures
exceeding 1012 K not observed
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Assignment
1. Derive that the number of scatterings before escpe Nsc
is given by: Nsc 2
(See KN 4.3 or RL 1.7)
2. Derive
Starting from
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Consider a region filled with energetic photons and relativisitic particles, then the
steady state equation (KN 4.6.4):
With n(x):
N():
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Literature
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