Stellar Atmospheres

by Jeremy Tatum

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This textbook presents a physics-based introduction to stellar atmospheres, covering radiation theory, blackbody radiation, and radiative transfer. It explains how absorption, scattering, and atomic processes shape stellar spectra, linking quantum mechanics and statistical physics to line formation, broadening, and limb darkening, and concludes with tools like the curve of growth for interpreting observations.

Description from LibreTexts.

Publisher
University of Victoria
Subjects
Physics, Astronomy Cosmology
Licence
CC BY-NC 4.0, as LibreTexts states it. Non-commercial use only.
Who can read
Tweens profiles and older, judged from its title and subjects

Contents

LibreTexts writes equations in TeX, and here they show as TeX; the PDF has them typeset.

  1. Front Matter
  2. TitlePage
  3. InfoPage
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Licensing
  6. 1: Definitions of and Relations between Quantities used in Radiation Theory
  7. 1.1: Introduction to Radiation Theory
  8. 1.2: Radiant Flux or Radiant Power, φ or P
  9. 1.3: Variation with Frequency or Wavelength
  10. 1.4: Radiant Intensity, I
  11. 1.5: Per unit
  12. 1.6: Relation between Flux and Intensity
  13. 1.7: Absolute Magnitude
  14. 1.8: Normal Flux Density F
  15. 1.9: Apparent Magnitude
  16. 1.10: Irradiance E
  17. 1.11: Exitance M
  18. 1.12: Radiance L
  19. 1.13: Lambertian Surface
  20. 1.14: Relations between Flux, Intensity, Exitance, Irradiance
  21. 1.15: A= πB
  22. 1.16: Radiation Density (u)
  23. 1.17: Radiation Density and Irradiance
  24. 1.18: Radiation Pressure (P)
  25. 2: Blackbody Radiation
  26. 2.1: Absorptance, and the Definition of a Black Body
  27. 2.2: Radiation within a cavity enclosure
  28. 2.3: Kirchhoff's Law
  29. 2.4: An aperture as a black body
  30. 2.5: Planck's Equation
  31. 2.6: Wien's Law
  32. 2.7: Stefan's Law (The Stefan-Boltzmann Law)
  33. 2.8: A Thermodynamical Argument
  34. 2.9: Dimensionless forms of Planck's equation
  35. 2.10: Derivation of Wien's and Stefan's Laws
  36. 3: The Exponential Integral Function
  37. 4: Flux, Specific Intensity and other Astrophysical Terms
  38. 4.1: Introduction
  39. 4.2: Luminosity
  40. 4.3: Specific Intensity
  41. 4.4: Flux
  42. 4.5: Mean Specific Intensity
  43. 4.6: Radiation Pressure
  44. 4.7: Other Integrals
  45. 4.8: Emission Coefficient
  46. 5: Absorption, Scattering, Extinction and the Equation of Transfer
  47. 5.1: Introduction
  48. 5.2: Absorption
  49. 5.3: Scattering, Extinction and Opacity
  50. 5.4: Optical Depth
  51. 5.5: The Equation of Transfer
  52. 5.6: The Source Function (Die Ergiebigkeit)
  53. 5.7: A Series of Problems
  54. 5.8: Source function in scattering and absorbing atmospheres
  55. 5.9: More on the Equation of Transfer
  56. 6: Limb Darkening
  57. 6.1: Introduction. The Empirical Limb-darkening
  58. 6.2: Simple Models of the Atmosphere to Explain Limb Darkening
  59. 7: Atomic Spectroscopy
  60. 7.1: Introduction
  61. 7.2: A Very Brief History of Spectroscopy
  62. 7.3: The Hydrogen Spectrum
  63. 7.4: The Bohr Model of Hydrogen-like Atoms
  64. 7.5: One-dimensional Waves in a Stretched String
  65. 7.6: Vibrations of a Uniform Sphere
  66. 7.7: The Wave Nature of the Electron
  67. 7.8: Schrödinger's Equation
  68. 7.9: Solution of Schrödinger's Time-independent Equation for the Hydrogen Atom
  69. 7.10: Operators, Eigenfunctions and Eigenvalues
  70. 7.11: Spin
  71. 7.12: Electron Configurations
  72. 7.13: LS-coupling
  73. 7.14: States, Levels, Terms, Polyads, etc.
  74. 7.15: Components, Lines, Multiplets, etc.
  75. 7.16: Return to the Hydrogen Atom
  76. 7.17: How to recognize LS-coupling
  77. 7.18: Hyperfine Structure
  78. 7.19: Isotope effects
  79. 7.20: Orbiting and Spinning Charges
  80. 7.21: Zeeman effect
  81. 7.22: Paschen-Back Effect
  82. 7.23: Zeeman effect with nuclear spin
  83. 7.24: Selection rules
  84. 7.25: Some forbidden lines worth knowing
  85. 7.26: Stark Effect
  86. 8: Boltzmann's and Saha's Equations
  87. 8.1: Introduction
  88. 8.2: Stirling's Approximation. Lagrangian Multipliers.
  89. 8.3: Some Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
  90. 8.4: Boltzmann's Equation
  91. 8.5: Some Comments on Partition Functions
  92. 8.6: Saha's Equation
  93. 8.7: The Negative Hydrogen Ion
  94. 8.8: Autoionization and Dielectronic Recombination
  95. 8.9: Molecular Equilibrium
  96. 8.10: Thermodynamic Equilibrium
  97. 9: Oscillator Strengths and Related Topics
  98. 9.1: Introduction, Radiance, and Equivalent Width
  99. 9.2: Oscillator Strength. (die Oszillatorenstärke)
  100. 9.3: Einstein A Coefficient
  101. 9.4: Einstein B Coefficient
  102. 9.5: Line Strength
  103. 9.6: LS-coupling
  104. 9.7: Atomic hydrogen
  105. 9.8: Zeeman Components
  106. 9.9: Summary of Relations Between f, A and S
  107. 10: Line Profiles
  108. 10.1: Natural Broadening (Radiation Damping)
  109. 10.2: Thermal Broadening
  110. 10.3: Microturbulence
  111. 10.4: Combination of Profiles
  112. 10.5: Pressure Broadening
  113. 10.6: Rotational Broadening
  114. 10.7: Instrumental Broadening
  115. 10.8: Other Line-Broadening Mechanisms
  116. 10.9: Appendix A- Convolution of Gaussian and Lorentzian Functions
  117. 10.10: APPENDIX B- Radiation Damping as Functions of Angular Frequency, Frequency and Wavelength
  118. 10.11: APPENDIX C- Optical Thinness, Homogeneity and Thermodynamic Equilibrium
  119. 11: Curve of Growth
  120. 11.1: Introduction to Curve of Growth
  121. 11.2: A Review of Some Terms
  122. 11.3: Theory of the Curve of Growth
  123. 11.4: Curve of Growth for Gaussian Profiles
  124. 11.5: Curve of Growth for Lorentzian Profiles
  125. 11.6: Curve of Growth for Voigt Profiles
  126. 11.7: Observational Curve of Growth
  127. 11.8: Interpreting an Optically Thick Profile
  128. 11.9: APPENDIX A- Evaluation of the Voigt Curve of Growth Integral
  129. Back Matter
  130. Index
  131. Detailed Licensing