Radio Recombination Lines (eBook)

Preface 7
Contents 9
List of Figures 12
List of Tables 15
Introduction 16
1.1 The Cosmos as a Laboratory 16
1.2 Spectral Lines in Astronomy 16
1.3 The Bohr Atom 18
1.4 Spectral Lines in Radio Astronomy 22
RRLs and Atomic Physics 37
2.1 The First Surprising Results: The Absence of Stark Broadening 37
2.2 The Broadening of Radio Recombination Lines 39
2.3 Intensity of Radio Recombination Lines 70
2.4 The Range of RRL Studies 108
2.5 How Many Atomic Levels Can Exist? 121
2.6 Summary 127
RRLs: Tools for Astronomers 130
3.1 Physical Conditions in HII Regions 134
3.2 Ionized Hydrogen and Helium in the Galaxy 148
3.3 Exploration of the Cold ISM by RRLs 178
3.4 RRLs from Stars and Stellar Envelopes 226
3.5 RRLs from Extragalactic Objects 244
Appendixes 252
Constants 253
A.1 Miscellaneous Constants 253
A.2 Rydberg Constants 253
Tables of Line Frequencies 256
B.1 Frequencies Below 100GHz 256
B.2 Frequencies Above 100GHz 269
B.3 FORTRAN Code for Fine-Structure Frequencies 285
Supplemental Calculations 292
C.1 Early Estimates of Stark Broadening 292
C.2 Refinements to the Bohr Model 294
Hydrogen Oscillator Strengths 296
D.1 Population of Atomic Sublevels 296
D.2 Calculation of Oscillator Strengths 297
D.3 FORTRAN Code for Evaluating Radial Matrix Integrals 299
Departure Coefficients 307
E.1 FORTRAN Code for Calculating bn Values 307
Observational Units 338
F.1 What Radio Telescopes Measure 338
F.2 How Radio Telescopes Measure 339
References 347
Author Index 360
Subject Index 365