Determination of the Physical Conditions in Seyfert Galaxy Nuclei Using the Fast Proton Model.
Abstract
The fast proton model was used to determine physical conditions in a hydrogen gas heated by suprathermal protons. The electron temperature and degree of ionization of the gas were found, as a function of the penetration distance of the fast particles, by solving the ionization and thermal balance equations at each point. The conditions were determined for an optically thin gas where all radiation produced in the gas escapes without being scattered, and an optically thick gas where L alpha radiation is trapped and degraded by two-photon emission. The model parameters were the incident energy of the fast protons, the ambient gas density, and the fast particles density. Estimates were also made of the conditions in the gas when broad-line emission by suprathermal atoms is enhanced via absorption of line photons produced by the ambient gas.
- Publication:
-
Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- 1976
- Bibcode:
- 1976PhDT.........4K
- Keywords:
-
- Physics: Astronomy and Astrophysics;
- Proton Density (Concentration);
- Proton Irradiation;
- Seyfert Galaxies;
- Thermal Expansion;
- Gas Density;
- Hydrogen Atoms;
- Particle Density (Concentration);
- Radiation Spectra;
- Astrophysics