In order to investigate the near wing of the Lyman-alpha line, accurate line profile calculations and molecular data are both required due to the existence of a close line satellite responsible for its asymmetrical shape. Lyman-alpha lines observed with the Cosmic Origin Spectograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST) show this peculiarity in the spectra of DBA and DA white dwarf stars. A similar asymmetrical shape in the blue wing can be predicted in the Balmer-alpha line of H perturbed by He and H atoms. In continuation with a very recent work on the Lyman-alpha line, where the n=2 potential energies and transition dipole moments from the ground state were determined, we present new accurate H-He potential energies and electronic transition dipole moments involving the molecular states correlated with H(n=3)+He and their transition dipole moments with the states correlated with H(n=2)+He. Those new data and existing molecular data for H(n=2,3)-H are used to provide a theoretical investigation of the collisional effects in the blue wing of the Balmer-alpha line of H perturbed by He and H atoms. We note the consequences for the Balmer-alpha line shape in the physical conditions found in the cool atmosphere of DZA white dwarfs where helium densities may be as high as 10^21 cm-3. This study is undertaken with a unified theory of spectral line broadening valid at very high helium densities.
In this paper we emphasize the non-Lorentzian behavior of the Balmer series in helium-dominated DBA white dwarf stars for which the decades-old problem exists for the determination of the hydrogen abundance. In a very recent work, we have shown that quasi-molecular line satellites due to H-He and H-H collisions are responsible for the asymmetrical shape of the Lyman-alpha lines observed with the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS) and that a similar asymmetry exists for the Balmer-alpha line profiles. In continuation with very recent work, where the n=2, 3 potential energies and transition dipole…
Symbiotic stars often exhibit broad wings around Balmer emission lines, whose origin is still controversial. We present the high resolution spectra of the S type symbiotic stars Z Andromedae and AG Draconis obtained with the ESPaDOnS and the 3.6 m Canada France Hawaii Telescope to investigate the broad wings around H$α$ and H$β$. When H$α$ and H$β$ lines are overplotted in the Doppler space, it is noted that H$α$ profiles are overall broader than H$β$ in these two objects. Adopting a Monte Carlo approach, we consider the formation of broad wings of H$α$ and H$β$ through Raman scattering of far…
Hydrogen Balmer lines are commonly used as spectroscopic effective temperature diagnostics of late-type stars. However, the absolute accuracy of classical methods that are based on one-dimensional (1D) hydrostatic model atmospheres and local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) is still unclear. To investigate this, we carry out 3D non-LTE calculations for the Balmer lines, performed, for the first time, over an extensive grid of 3D hydrodynamic STAGGER model atmospheres. For H$α$, H$β$, and H$γ$, we find significant 1D non-LTE versus 3D non-LTE differences (3D effects): the outer wings tend to be …
Extremely broad emission wings at H$β$ and H$α$ have been found in VFTS data for five very luminous BA supergiants in or near 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The profiles of both lines are extremely asymmetrical, which we have found to be caused by very broad diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in the longward wing of H$β$ and the shortward wing of H$α$. These DIBs are well known to interstellar but not to many stellar specialists, so that the asymmetries may be mistaken for intrinsic features. The broad emission wings are generally ascribed to electron scattering, although we note dif…
Spectral observations below Lyman-alpha are now obtained with the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). It is therefore necessary to provide an accurate treatment of the blue wing of the Lyman-alpha line that enables correct calculations of radiative transport in DA and DBA white dwarf stars. On the theoretical front, we very recently developed very accurate H-He potential energies for the hydrogen 1s, 2s, and 2p states. Nevertheless, an uncertainty remained about the asymptotic correlation of the Sigma states and the electronic dipole transition moments. A simi…
We describe a new quiet-Sun phenomenon which we call "Quiet-Sun Ellerman-like Brightenings" (QSEB). QSEBs are similar to Ellerman bombs (EB) in some respects but differ significantly in others. EBs are transient brightenings of the wings of the Balmer H-alpha line that mark strong-field photospheric reconnection in complex active regions. QSEBs are similar but smaller and less intense Balmer-wing brightenings that occur in quiet areas away from active regions. In the H-alpha wing we measure typical lengths of less than 0.5 arcsec, widths of 0.21 arcsec, and lifetimes of less than a minute. We …
We study off-limb emission of the lower solar atmosphere using high-resolution imaging spectroscopy in the H$β$ and Ca II 8542 Å lines obtained with the CHROMospheric Imaging Spectrometer (CHROMIS) and the CRisp Imaging SpectroPolarimeter (CRISP) on the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. The H$β$ line wing images show the dark intensity gap between the photospheric limb and chromosphere which is absent in the Ca II images. We calculate synthetic spectra of the off-limb emissions with the RH code in the one-dimension spherical geometry and find good agreement with the observations. The analysis of sy…
A spatio-temporal analysis of IRIS spectra of MgII, CII, and SiIV ions allows us to study the dynamics and the stratification of the flare atmosphere along the line of sight during the magnetic reconnection phase at the jet base. Strong asymmetric MgII and CII line profiles with extended blue wings observed at the reconnection site are interpreted by the presence of two chromospheric temperature clouds: one explosive cloud with blueshifts at 290 km/s and one cloud with smaller Doppler shift (around 36 km/s). Simultaneously at the same location a mini flare was observed with strong emission in …
We use observations of quiet Sun (QS) regions in the H$α$ 6563 Å, Ca~{\sc ii} 8542 Å\, and Fe~{\sc i} 6302 Å lines. We observe brightenings in the wings of the H$α$ and Ca~{\sc ii} combined with observations of the interacting magnetic concentrations observed in the Stokes signals of Fe~{\sc i}. These brightenings are similar to Ellerman bombs (EBs), i.e. impulsive bursts in the wings of the Balmer lines which leave the line cores unaffected. Such enhancements suggest that these events have similar formation mechanisms to the classical EBs found in active regions, with the reduced intensity en…
We present the theoretical framework and numerical methods we have implemented to solve the problem of the generation and transfer of polarized radiation in spectral lines out of local thermodynamical equilibrium, while accounting for scattering polarization, partial frequency redistribution, J-state interference, and hyperfine structure. The resulting radiative transfer code allows modeling the impact of magnetic fields of arbitrary strength and orientation through the Hanle, incomplete Paschen-Back, and magneto-optical effects. We also evaluate the suitability of a series of approximations f…
Ellerman bombs are transient brightenings of the wings of the solar Balmer lines that mark reconnection in the photosphere. Ellerman noted in 1917 that he did not observe such brightenings in the Na I D and Mg I b lines. This non-visibility should constrain EB interpretation, but has not been addressed in published bomb modeling. We therefore test Ellerman's observation and confirm it using high-quality imaging spectrometry with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. However, we find diffuse brightness in these lines that seems to result from prior EBs. We tentatively suggest this is a post-bomb hot…
Balmer-dominated shells in supernova remnants (SNRs) are produced by collisionless shocks advancing into a partially neutral medium, and are most frequently associated with Type Ia supernovae. We have analyzed Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images and VLT/MUSE or AAT/WiFeS observations of five Type Ia SNRs containing Balmer-dominated shells in the LMC: 0509-67.5, 0519-69.0, N103B, DEM L71, and 0548-70.4. Contrary to expectations, we find bright forbidden line emission from small dense knots embedded in four of these SNRs. The electron densities in some knots are higher than 10$^4$ cm$^{-3}$. The…
Enigmatic Line Broadening During Solar Flares: Magnetic Field Broadening?
University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；University of Colorado, Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校）；National Solar Observatory（国家太阳观测台）；University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）；University of Glasgow（格拉斯哥大学）；Catholic University of America（美国天主教大学）
Ellerman bombs are transient brightenings of the wings of the Balmer lines that uniquely mark reconnection in the solar photosphere. They are also bright in strong Ca II and ultraviolet lines and in ultraviolet continua, but they are not visible in the optical continuum and the Na I D and Mg I b lines. These discordant visibilities invalidate all published Ellerman bomb modeling. I argue that the assumption of Saha-Boltzmann lower-level populations is informative to estimate bomb-onset opacities for these diverse diagnostics, even and especially for H-alpha, and employ such estimates to gauge …
LAMOST Data Release 5, covering $\sim$17,000 $deg^2$ from $-10^{\circ}$ to $80^{\circ}$ in declination, contains 9 millions co-added low resolution spectra of celestial objects, each spectrum combined from repeat exposure of two to tens of times during Oct 2011 to Jun 2017. In this paper, We present the spectra of individual exposures for all the objects in LAMOST Data Release 5. For each spectrum, equivalent width of 60 lines from 11 different elements are calculated with a new method combining the actual line core and fitted line wings. For stars earlier than F type, the Balmer lines are fit…
