Why few lines of the Balmer series are observed in flares on the disk
Abstract
It is shown that upper-level populations of hydrogen atoms in solar flares are distributed according to the statistical weights of the levels and that optical thickness in the high Balmer lines is significantly less than unity. Calculations indicate that due to these two conditions, the intensities of the high Balmer lines should fall rapidly with number, which also leads to the small number of observed lines in flares on the disk. The second-level population of hydrogen atoms is estimated together with the extent of emission in flares.
- Publication:
-
Soviet Astronomy
- Pub Date:
- April 1976
- Bibcode:
- 1976SvA....19..590K
- Keywords:
-
- Balmer Series;
- Hydrogen Atoms;
- Solar Flares;
- Emission Spectra;
- H Lines;
- Optical Thickness;
- Spectral Line Width;
- Solar Physics