Feb.

6: This week’s big questions

• Is light a wave or a particle?

• What are the kinds of electromagnetic radiation?
• How do the spectra of thermal emitters behave?
• How are absorption & emission lines produced?
• How does light tells us the source’s velocity?

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 Electron Transitions in Hydrogen

Schematic diagrams of electron orbits in the hydrogen atom:

(left), Ostlie & Carroll, 2nd edition; (right) Bennett et al.

Discussion Question: Which diagram is more accurate?

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Hydrogen Electron Orbits /Energy Levels

But this *IS* to scale

in terms of energy!
Note: Not to scale!

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3
 Production of Emission Lines
Photons are emitted when electrons are “bumped
up” to excited energy levels by colliding with other
particles or by absorbing photons, followed by a
spontaneous drop to a lower energy level.

The energy of the

emitted photon is equal
to the energy difference
between the initial and
final levels. A photon of
fixed energy has a
specific wavelength.
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repeat from 2/4: Electromagnetic Radiation

λ f = c where λ = wavelength and f = frequency

(f is sometimes denoted by the Greek letter nu, ν)
c = 3.00 x 108 m/s = speed of light
ε=h f where ε = photon energy
h = 6.626 x 10-34 Joule s = Planck’s constant

Note directions of arrows!

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Energy Differences and Photon Energies
A bigger jump for an electron corresponds to a
photon of higher energy, hence shorter wavelength.

Photoexcitation of atom

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Beyond the Visible: H Lines in the Ultraviolet

The FUSE space

observatory; it
operated from
1999 – 2007

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Beyond the Visible: H Lines in the Infrared
Emission lines in the planetary nebula M 1–40. Most of the
lines are from hydrogen, representing electron jumps
between the indicated levels (main quantum numbers n).

Data from the Gemini South

8m telescope in Chile

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 On “up” vs “down” transitions
The figure on the left illustrates absorptions of
photons: the electrons are jumping “up” to larger
orbits with higher energy. The figure at right shows
electrons dropping down, hence emitting photons.

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How do electrons get in high energy levels?

• By absorbing a photon of the “right” energy –

that matches the energy needed to jump
• By colliding with another atom or particle, and
(part of) the kinetic energy is converted into
electromagnetic energy for the electron. Note:
This does not require an exact energy match!
• By having the atom “capture” a free electron,
likely to happen if the atom is a positively
charged ion. This is “recombination,” and we
are about to encounter it in the early Universe!

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 Three Kinds of Spectra

In our class demo,

you saw examples
of all three types of
spectra, as listed in
“Kirchhoff’s Laws”
that predicted the
kind of spectrum
seen from different
states of matter.

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 Kirchhoff’s First Law: Thermal Emitters

A solid or a dense,
hot gas emits a
smooth-looking,
“continuous”
spectrum, with a
shape and height
(intensity) set only
by its temperature.

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Thermal Emitters: Cosmic Thermometers
(also called “blackbodies”)

Hotter star
(bluer, more
total energy)

Sun
(yellowish)

Cooler star
(redder, less
energy)

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 How Thermal Radiation Behaves

1. The peak of the spectrum

falls at shorter, bluer
wavelengths for hotter
objects (shorter λ means
higher photon energy).
2. Hotter objects emit more
total radiation per unit
surface area, and more
power at every wavelength.

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Thermal Spectra: Cosmic Thermometers

Wien’s law
animation 2

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Kirchhoff’s Second Law: Emission Lines

A hot, low-density
gas emits light at a
few specific
wavelengths that
depend on what
elements are
present, producing
bright, narrow
emission lines.

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Kirchhoff’s Third Law: Absorption Lines
Cool low-density
gas between us
and the source of
a continuous
spectrum absorbs
at a few specific
wavelengths,
producing dark
narrow gaps
called absorption
lines.

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 Production of Emission Lines
This animation shows an
electron being repeatedly
“kicked” into higher energy
levels when photons of the
right energy passes by,
then dropping down again.
This raises a question: if
absorption of a photon is
followed by emission of a
photon of the same energy,
why do we see absorption
line spectra? Won’t this be
self-cancelling?

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 Production of Absorption Lines
If a continuous, thermal
spectrum passes through a
cool cloud, some of the
photons are absorbed.
When the photons are
re-emitted, they don’t
“remember” the original
direction of the light, but
instead are emitted in all
directions. Only a few of the
photons keep going in the
original direction, so there is
less intensity at those Formation of absorption lines
wavelengths.
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 Identifying Elements from Line Spectra

The atoms of each

element (actually, each
ion of each element)
have their own unique
set of electron energy
levels, so they emit a
unique pattern of
colors, like fingerprints.
If it is a hot gas, we see
these as an emission
line spectrum.
Identifying elements
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 The Discovery of Helium
• Janssen (France) and Lockyer
(England), saw a yellow line in the Sun
during a solar eclipse in 1868, when
they could see the emission lines from
the solar chromosphere

NGC 7662

• They named it “helium” and considered it to be a

new element found only in the Sun
• It was identified 27 years later (1895) in terrestrial
minerals by scientists in the UK & Sweden
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 The Story of Nebulium
Two bright, green emission lines were seen in planetary
nebulae and the Orion Nebula by William Huggins,1860 s

NGC 7662

NGC 7662
The origin of these
lines was not
determined for
decades: it is from
oxygen ions, O++
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 The Doppler Effect
Waves from a moving source get “crowded” together (shorter
wavelength) if the source is moving towards you, and get
“stretched” (longer wavelength) if the source is moving away.

Doppler Effect

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 Measuring Radial Velocities

• We can measure the

Doppler shift of emission
or absorption lines in the
spectrum of an object.
• The light will be
redshifted if the source
is moving away from us,
blueshifted if it is moving
towards us.
• The amount of the shift
tells us how fast the
source is moving.

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The Doppler Effect: Direction Matters !
• The Doppler effect works
only for the part of the
velocity along the radial
line between us and the
source (“radial velocity”).
• Motion away stretches
the waves, making them
longer (redder).
• Motion towards us
crowds them, making
them shorter (bluer).
• Sideways motion has no
effect on wavelength.
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Periodically Varying Doppler Effect: Orbits

What shift do
you see at point
P in the orbit?
PŸ

Even if the speed of a star in a circular orbit remains

constant, the direction changes. So the wavelength goes
through a cycle: redshift, blueshift, repeat over and over.

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 Rotating Objects
If the object is wide enough that you can see the two edges
separately, you will notice a change in the Doppler shift from
one edge to the other. If all the light is smeared together – as
for a distant star – instead of shifting, the line will be broad.

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 Activity, 2/6 - Doppler Shifts on the Sun

These images are color-coded: blue indicates blue Doppler shifts, red
indicates redshifts. The left image shows the variation of these across the
Sun; the right image shows what’s left over when the trend is removed.
(a) Explain the left image: What causes the Doppler shift to go from blue at
one edge, to white (no shift) in the middle, to red at the other edge?
(b) Once this smooth variation has been removed (right), why do we see
leftover “speckles” of blue and red shifts on the Sun’s surface?
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