Light emission of very low density hydrogen excited by an extremely hot light source; applications in astrophysics

TL;DR

This paper explores the light emission mechanisms of low-density hydrogen excited by a hot source, revealing superradiance and multiphotonic processes that explain astrophysical phenomena like supernova spectra.

Contribution

It uncovers superradiant behavior in hydrogen plasmas and details multiphotonic interactions, providing new insights into astrophysical light emissions and supernova observations.

Findings

Hydrogen plasma can be superradiant at multiple eigenfrequencies.

Superradiant rays cause intense, tangential emission rings.

The model explains the spectrum and appearance of supernova 1987A.

Abstract

Stromgren studied the action of an extremely hot source on a diluted pure hydrogen cloud; a very ionized, spherical hydrogen plasma surrounded by neutral atomic hydrogen is formed. A relatively thin intermediate, partially ionized, hydrogen shell, is cooled by the radiation of the atoms. Stromgren was unaware of that this plasma, similar to the plasma of a gas laser, can be superradiant at several eigen frequencies of atomic hydrogen; the superradiant rays emitted tangentially with the sphere appear resulting from a discontinuous ring because of the competition of optical modes. The superradiance intensely depopulates the excited levels, including the continuum of proton-electron collisions, by cascades of transitions combined into resonant multiphotonic transitions so that the gas is cooled brutally beyond the radius of the Stromgren sphere. The extreme brightness of the rays emitted by the source allows a multiphotonic non-resonant absorption leading in stationary states or the ionization continuum. This absorption combines with the superradiant emissions in a multiphotonic diffusion induced by the superradiant rays. Although its brightness remains higher than that of the superradiant rays, the source becomes invisible if it is observed through a small solid angle. The lines emitted inside the sphere are all the more weak as they arrive of an internal area, lower in atoms, and more reddened also by a parametric transfer of energy towards the thermal radiation catalyzed by excited atomic hydrogen present in the sphere only. The Stromgren sphere appears to help to simply explain the appearance and the spectrum of supernova 1987A.