Lecture 7: Radiation and Matter

Lightning storm over Kitt Peak National Observatory in the USA (image: NASA)

Phys 275 Astrophysics I - Planets and Stars

Lecture 7 January 25th 2011

Last Time: Basic Properties of Light

Light is electromagnetic radiation, which we can think of either in terms of waves or in terms of individual particles (photons). The waves are oscillating electric and magnetic fields, which vary sinusoidally from positive to negative as a function of time and space. (The particles are harder to picture.) Wave-like properties: Wavelength = distance from crest to crest Speed v = c in vacuum (c = 3 x 105 km/s = 3 x108 m/s) Frequency f = rate at which peaks go by a point (also polarization, although we will talk about this less)

wave relation:

f = c /

Particle-like properties of individual photons: Energy Momentum E = hf = hc/ p = E/c = hf/c = h/ (h Plancks constant = 6.63 x 10-34 Joule seconds)

note that frequency, energy, momentum, wavelength and colour are all monotonic functions of each other

Light: Particle or Wave?

An interesting implication of photon picture:
Since photons have momentum, so they can experience forces (changes in momentum). The gravitational force is proportional to mass, but the acceleration it produces is independent of mass, so what is the effect of gravity on a massless particle? It turns out it is accelerated (e.g. its path is deflected) just like a massive particle. This is one illustration of the more general theory of Einstein, that gravity represents a curvature of space-time.

We will discuss gravitational lensing, the bending of photon paths by gravitational fields, later in the course.

Light: Particle or Wave?

An example of the wave picture: Angular Resolution
Waves passing through two different slits reach a source from two different angles, producing an interference pattern. The nature of the interference pattern allows us to estimate the angle between the two paths. Similarly light entering the eye or a telescope from different directions transmits angular information. The bigger the diameter of the instrument (eye, telescope, camera etc.) or the shorter the wavelength, the better the angular resolution (the smallest angle the system can resolve.) Best angular resolution = diffraction limit

= 2.5 x 105 arcseconds x (wavelength of light/diameter of instrument)

e.g. human iris: 1.2 cm = 1200 microns, versus optical light at 0.3 microns, so limit = 2.5 x 105 arcseconds x (0.3/1200) ~ 70 arcseconds = 1 arcminute For radio telescopes large, so telescope size needs to be very large to get good resolution

Characterizing Light Sources: the Spectrum

Spectrum: The photon distribution in the light coming from an object i.e. number of photons per second (or the intensity) versus energy (or equivalently wavelength or frequency). This can also be described in energy units by the spectral energy distribution (SED)

We can imagine the spectrum either as a graph of intensity vs. wavelength (top plot) or as a rainbow where brightness indicates intensity and colour indicates wavelength Based on the nature of the spectrum, we talk about two types of sources, continuum sources (spectrum is a continuous function over a range of energy) and line sources (spectrum is nonzero only around a few specific energies; cf. the sharp features in the plot above)

Continuum Sources: Black Bodies and Black Body Radiation

A black body is a theoretical ideal radiator (no real system is an exact blackbody; some stars close; the microwave background comes closest) Perfect absorber; thermalizes absorbed radiation perfectly and re-radiates perfectly Emission depends only on temperature Does not emit the same amount at all wavelengths: instead spectrum has a characteristic shape

http://www.blksmth.com/heat_colors.htm

The Blackbody Spectrum

Planck Spectrum: Peak at a characteristic wavelength that depends on the temperature of the source, drops off at shorter and longer wavelengths

The Blackbody Spectrum

Planck Spectrum: The mathematical form is given by

Where the greek letter (nu) denotes the frequency. Here I(nu, T) is the emitted power per unit area of emitting surface in the normal direction, per unit solid angle, per unit frequency. This quantity is called the specific (radiative) intensity. For low values of nu, I(nu) is roughly a power law. It reaches a peak at a characteristic frequency that is some multiple of kT, and there is then an exponential cutoff at h ~ kT Note that in terms of wavelength, the function looks slightly different because it is differential (per unit frequency orr wavelength), and d/d 1:

Mathematical Properties of the Planck Spectrum

By calculating the wavelength of the maximum (dI/d = 0) and by integrating I(nu) over all frequency or or I() over all wavelengths, we can derive two important results:

The wavelength of peak emission goes as (1/temperature): Wiens Law: max = 2,900,000 nm x (1 Kelvin/ temperature)
so blue (short wavelength) hotter than yellow (longer) hotter than red (even longer wavelength)

Hotter sources emit more radiation per unit area at all wavelengths Stefan-Boltzmann law : emitted power = T4 surface area
where = 5.67 x 10-8 Watt/m2/Kelvin4 is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant Thus from Wiens law, can get temperature for continuum sources; from the Stefan-Boltzmann law get sizes.

Examples:
The Suns mean surface temperature is 5,800K. At what wavelength would it emit most strongly, if it were a perfect blackbody? Wiens Law: max = 2,900,000 nm x(1/5800) = 500 nm (= 5000) (yellow-green) Two stars (at the same distance) have the same temperature but one is observed to emit 10,000 times more energy than the other. Why? Stefans Law: emitted power/unit area = T4 but T the same, so surface areas must differ by 10,000 Surface area = 4R 2, so (R1/R2)2 = 10,000 so R1/R2 = 10,000 = 100 so one has a radius 100 times larger than the other

Examples:
Two stars of the same size have the same temperature but one is appears 10,000 times brighter than the other. Why? Now and T are the same, so difference must be due to distance apparent brightness goes as 1/d 2, so (d1/d2)2 = 10,000 so d1/d2 = 100 so one is 100 times closer than the other (we will go over flux versus distance again when we talk about stars, but basically it drops off as (distance)2 )

Equilibrium Temperature and Albedo

Since a body at a given temperature radiates away heat (thermal energy) following the Stefan-Boltzmann law, equilibrium between a certain heating rate and a certain cooling rate implies an equilibrium temperature. e.g. the solar flux at the radius of the Earths orbit is 1400 W/m2 what temperature does the Earth have to be at to balance this inflow of energy?

energy in (R2)x (1400 W/m2) so T

= energy out = 4 R2 x T4 = (1400/4)1/4

(note factor of 4)

= (350/5.67x10-8) ~ 280K = 6 C
Why is the Earth warmer than this mean temperature? Note planets may not absorb all the radiation incident on them; the faction they reflect is measured by their albedo. ice: albedo ~ 0.8 (reflects 80% of light)

coal: albedo ~ 0.05 (reflects only 5% of light)

Spectral Lines
Spectral lines are extremely useful as they provide a fingerprint or bar code with which we can identify elements, ionic species or molecules. Lines can appear in emission (from gas hotter than a background continuum source) or in absorption (from gas cooler than background) Lines for a given species are at the same set of wavelengths in either case, so they are easily identified, e.g. the Balmer series of Hydrogen:

emission absorption

So where do these lines come from?

The Doppler Shift

Another extremely important use of spectral lines is in measuring the Doppler shift. Imaging a wave source distance d away, emitting waves with period T = 1/f and moving towards you at speed v (e.g. a boat on water, except here waves move at speed c) wave crest 1 is emitted at te1 and reaches you at to1 = te1+ d/c wave crest is emitted at te2 = te1 + T and reaches you to2 = te2 + d/c , but the distance it has to travel has dropped from d to d = d - vT Thus you observe a period: to2 - to1 = (te2 -te1) + (d-d)/c = 1/f - vT/c = 1/f(1 - v/c)

Thus the apparent period changes by a factor (1 - v/c), or the frequency increases by the inverse of this factor. Applying the same argument to a travelling light source, we get the Doppler Formula: / = (observed - emitted)/emitted ~ v/c for v <<c Sources moving towards us are blue-shifted; sources moving away are red-shifted (N.b. We sometimes just talk about the redshift: z = /)

Matter: Constituents and States

Phys 275 Astrophysics I - Planets and Stars

Lecture 7 January 25th 2011

The constituents of matter: protons, neutrons, electrons and atoms

Matter is comprised of 3 type of particles: protons, neutrons and electrons (note protons and neutrons are themselves composed of quarks) One of more protons, an equal number of electrons and possibly some neutrons together make up an atom. An atom is electrically neutral. If the number of electrons and protons is not equal, we have a charged ion. In the atom, the nucleus of positively charged protons and neutral neutrons is held together by the strong nuclear force, while the electrically negative electrons orbit in surrounding extended clouds around the nucleus.

Note not all nuclei are stable; some naturally undergo radioactive decay, e.g. by neutrons transmuting into protons via the weak nuclear force. Unstable species are often characterized by their half-life, the time it takes for half the atoms to decay (these decays are random, so they dont all happen at the same time.)

Atoms, elements and isotopes

We distinguish between different elements or isotopes, depending on the number of nucleons (protons and neutrons) in an atom or ion. * Elements have a unique Atomic Number: = number of protons this determines the main chemical properties of the neutral species e.g. Carbon (6 protons, atomic number 6) versus Oxygen (8 protons, atomic number 8) * Isotopes have a unique Mass number = number of protons + neutrons this determines the total mass of the species e.g. 12C (the most common isotope) versus 14C (rarer, radioactive)

Atoms, elements and isotopes

examples of elements (Nprotons fixed) and isotopes (Nnucleons fixed)

Atomic Structure
Within atoms, the electrons occupy discrete, well-defined states. The main division is into shells, which correspond roughly to the radius (and mean energy) of the electron orbit. The principal (or radial) quantum number n denotes the shell, with n=1 being the innermost/lowest energy. The electronic states are further characterized by two other quantum numbers, L and m, describing their angular momentum (a bit like a discrete version of planetary orbits.) Only two electrons can occupy each (n,L,m) state. The L number can be any integer from 0 to (n-1); the m number can be any integer value between -L and +L inclusive The number of levels is 2 for n = 1, L =0; 2 + 6 = 8 for n = 2, L = 0 or 1; 2 + 6 +10 = 18 for n = 3, and so on. This sequence explains the periodic table if we arrange it in a slightly different format: L = 0 (s orbitals; m = 0) L = 1 (p orbitals; m = -1,0,+1) n=1 n=2 n=3 L = 2 (d orbitals; m = -2,-1,0,+1,+2)

Atomic Structure
See wikipedia page on orbitals for illustration of geometry:

Atomic Structure
electrons can move from one radial level to another in the atom, but doing so either requires or produces energy e.g. a collision can deliver energy to an atom and make it jump up. This is called excitation an electron can also absorb a photon to do this, contributing to an absorption line in the spectrum when an electron jumps down it will emit a the extra energy as a photon, contributing to an emission line in the spectrum

Atomic Structure
the discreteness of energy levels in the atom explains why emission spectra contain discrete lines; these correspond to the differences between particular energy levels.

e.g. Balmer Series of lines in the emission spectrum of hydrogen:

(The Rydberg formula) These correspond to jumps down from level n = 3 or higher to n = 2 3-2 H-alpha - red line below; 4-2 H-beta - cyan line below; 5-2 H-gamma - rightmost blue line; etc.

From atoms to molecules

the charge distribution in atoms is rarely symmetric; electronic chare concentrates in some areas rather than others. atoms can thus attract or lose electrons, becoming ions they can also attract and bond with other atoms, forming molecules molecules have different energy levels from individual atoms, since the atoms can move around inside them (as well as the electrons moving from level to level) common molecular states of motion and/or energy levels are associated with vibration (variation in intra-atomic distances) and rotation (of atoms around their bonds)

Rotational and vibrational spectra for simple molecules produce hundreds of spectral lines in the infrared part of the spectrum. Right: emission lines in the night sky produced by the OH molecule, a major headache for observers

From atoms and molecules to phases of matter

We saw that temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy of individual particles in a substance. At low temperatures, molecules have little kinetic energy and can move only slowly. As a result they are tightly bound to their neighbours by electrostatic forces (giving the material tensile strength to resist deformation; same units as pressure ). The result is the solid phase. At slightly higher temperatures, there is more range of motion and molecules can flow past each other. The result is the liquid phase. Note that the liquid still resists expansion ( can have a free surface with surface tension) and contraction; most liquids are almost incompressible. At higher temperatures, kinetic energy dominates over inter-molecular potential energy. Molecules fly around, only occasionally bouncing off each other. The result is the gas phase. Gasses are readily compressible. At very high temperatures, collisions have enough energy to dissociate molecules into atoms, or atoms into ions. When a gas becomes ionized its behaviour changes; the result is called the plasma phase.

Pressure, Density and Energy in Matter

Matter consists of individual atoms or molecules at some mean distance s from each other, with electrostatic potential energy due to their charge distribution, and some kinetic energy associated with their thermal motion. If we consider a volume V containing N atoms or molecules of total mass M, pressure is the force exerted on the boundaries (surfaces) of the volume. Pressure = Force per unit area = dp/dt/A (momentum transferred per unit time per unit area)

The SI unit for pressure is the pascal (Pa), equal to one newton per square meter (N/m2 or kgm1s2).Another common unit is the atmosphere (atm): 1 atm = 101.3 kPa.

The density is of course just = M/V, measured in kg/m3 or g/cm3 Most matter outside white dwarfs and neutron stars is non-relativistic, so E ~ mc2 Thus the energy density stored in the matter, that is the energy per unit mass, is:

~ N mc2/V = nmc2 = c2

(where n is the number of atoms of mass m per unit volume)

Quantifying squishiness: the equation of state

A characteristic macroscopic property of materials is their squishiness. This is really a measure of how compressible they are, of how quickly their volume (or equivalently density) changes as we change the pressure on them. Compressibility can vary with temperature (e.g. sponge cake, toffee) and pressure. It is described mathematically by the equation of state: P = P(,T) examples include the ideal gas law: PV = NkT P = (N/V) kT = nkT = T(k/mp) = TR

where is the mean molecular mass of the gas, that is the mean mass of gas molecules in units of the proton mass mp, and R is the gas constant = 8.3 J/K/mol 1 mol = 6.02 x 1023 In general we talk about substances having hard (large pressure change produces little density change, so P varies rapidly with ) or soft (small pressure change produces large density change, so P varies slowly with ) equations of state. Why is P a function of two variables? Fundamentally, this expresses the ability to have energy stored in kinetic ( molecular velocity, or T) or potential ( intermolecular separation, or ) form.

Disturbances in Matter and the Sound Speed

How to determine the equation of state P(, T) ? One way is to measure how fast disturbances propagate. Note for single particles, since E = 1/2 mv2 and p = mv, so dimensionally E/p ~ v Since Pressure measures momentum per unit time per unit area, Pressure x (time/length) = Pressure/velocity has units momentum per unit volume so P/v ~ momentum/volume, and P/v/(c2 ) ~ P/E ~ velocity cancelling velocities, we get P/ ~ v2 So dimensionally at least, the quantity (dP/d)1/2 has dimensions velocity, and describes the speed at which disturbances propagate in the medium This is called the sound speed e.g. air; vs = 330 m/s in general, sound waves travel faster in hard materials and slower in soft materials vs = (dP/d)1/2

Summary of lecture 7
1. Wave and particle nature of light
wavelength, speed, frequency, energy, momentum; the electromagnetic spectrum

2. Continuum radiation sources: blackbodies

continuum and line sources, blackbodies, the Planck function, mathematical properties, examples, albedo and equilibrium temperature

3. Line radiation sources

emission and absorption, atomic transitions, the Balmer series, measuring the Doppler shift

4. The structure of matter

subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, ions, elements and isotopes, electronic structure of the atom, orbitals

5. Phases of matter and the solid state

states of matter - solid, liquid, gas, plasma; pressure, density, the equation of state, sound speed

Phys 275 Astrophysics I - Planets and Stars

Lecture 7 January 25th 2011