General Astrophysics 1 - Tutorial 2 - Radiation

transfer
Ron Zheleznykov
March 2023

1 Equations’ review
Brightness or intensity:
dE
Iν (Ω) = (1)
dtdAdΩdν
Energy density (zeroth moment of the intensity):
Z
1
uν = Iν dΩ (2)
c
Energy flux (first moment of the intensity):
Z
Fν = Iν cos(θ) dΩ (3)

Momentum flux (second moment of the intensity):

Z Z
Fν Iν
pν = cos(θ) dΩ = cos2 (θ) dΩ (4)
c c
[A suggestive point of view to understand the cos2 (θ) factor physically: We first
project dA⃗ onto dΩ,
⃗ such that momentum flux is p cos θdS, where cos θdS is the
effective area. However, we are interested in normal direction to the surface, so
we need to project the momentum back to dÂ]
Radiation transfer equation (without scattering):
dIν
= jν − αν Iν , (5)
ds
where αν is the absorption coefficient.
Optical depth: Z
τν = αν ds; dτν = αν ds. (6)

Emissivity ϵν , and Opacity κν :

αν
ϵν = ρjν ; κν = . (7)
ρ

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2 Black-body intensity & Flux, and Kirchhoff ’s
law
In class you saw that the radiation energy density is related to the intensity
through:
Z Z
1 4π
u= Iν dΩdν = (for isotropic intensity) = Iν dν. (8)
c c
In the last tutorial we derived the energy density for blackbody radiation:
(hν)3 ν3
Z Z Z
8π 4π 2h
u = E · n(E) dE = 3 3 hν d(hν) = 2 hν dν. (9)
h c e kB T − 1 c c e kB T − 1

Equating 8 and 9 yields the blackbody intensity, usually denoted as Bν (T ):

2h ν3
Bν (T ) = 2 hν . (10)
c e kB T − 1
As promised in the last tutorial, now we are able to calculate the BB flux:
Z 1
2h k 4 T 4 π 4 2π 5 kB4
Z
F = Bν cos θ dΩdν = 2 b 4 · 2π µ dµ = 3 2
T 4 ≡ σSB T 4 . (11)
c h 15 0 15 h c
When some medium is in thermal equilibrium with radiation, the brightness
within it approaches Bν (T ). This means that the absorption must be equal to
the emission, which is what Kirchhoff’s law states:
jν = αν Bν (T ). (12)
When Iν = Bν , the radiation transfer equation becomes
dIν
= αν · (Bν (T ) − Iν ), (13)
ds
Notice that
dBν
= 0. (14)
ds

3 Eddington luminosity
1. Show that the condition that an optically thin cloud of material can
be ejected by radiation pressure from a nearby luminous object, is that
the mass to luminosity ratio (M/L) for the object must be less than
∼ κ/(4πGc), where κ is the mass absorption coefficient of the cloud (as-
sumed to be independent of frequency).
2. Show that the maximal luminosity that a central mass M can have and
still not spontaneously eject hydrogen by radiation pressure is
 
4πGM cmH 38 −1 M
LEDD = = 1.25 × 10 erg s (15)
σT M⊙

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 Solution:
1. Using the intensity, we can build the force that it exerts on some volume
as it passes through. We start from the vector energy flux:
Z
⃗
Fν = Iν n̂ dΩ. (16)

This is the energy flux flowing along a specified direction. The momentum
absorbed in a unit time (i.e., force) through a unit area along a unit path
length, is
F⃗ν
Z
F⃗V = d⃗ p
= αν dν, (17)
dA ds c
as a consequence of the relation p⃗ = (E/c)n̂, which holds for photons.
As the mass density is related to the volume element through dm = ρdV,
dividing by ρ gives the force per unit mass:

⃗ ⃗
⃗m = FV = κν Fν dν.
Z
F (18)
ρ c
Now, assuming spherical symmetry and independence of frequency for the
luminous object, we know that F⃗ (r) = 4πr L
2 r̂, so the force on the cloud
κL
per mass element will be Fm,Rad = 4πr2 c .
On the other hand, the gravitational pull of the object on the cloud per
mass element is Fm,Grav = GM
r 2 . So, demanding FRad > FGrav yields

κL GM M κ
2
> 2 → < . (19)
4πr c r L 4πGc

2. The process associated with ionized hydrogen, assuming no relativistic

velocities, is Thomson scattering off free electrons. Since we are interested
in hydrogen atoms, the mass scattering coefficient is > σT /mH where mH
σT
is the mass of hydrogen atom. Substituting κ = m H
= 6.65×10−25 /1.67×
10−24 ≈ 0.4 into 19, and solving for the luminosity gives the result.

4 Emission from a optically thin/thick gas cloud

In this question, we find specific solutions to the (scatter-free) radiation transfer
equation,
dIν = −αν Iν + jν . (20)
A certain gas emits thermally with an isotropic specific emission coefficient jν .
A spherical cloud of this gas has a radius R and a temperature T , and is at a
distance d ≫ R from Earth. Answer the following questions for both optically
thin cloud, τ ≪ 1, and for optically thick cloud, τ ≫ 1:

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 1. What is its brightness as measured on Earth? Give your answer as a
function of the distance b from the cloud’s center, assuming a parallel line
of sight as shown in figure 1.
2. What is the flux F measured at Earth coming from the entire cloud?
3. What is the effective temperature Teff of the cloud (defined by equating
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the frequency-integrated flux to the black-body flux σTeff )?

Figure 1: A Gas cloud

Solution:
First we will find the solution of the transfer equation with the boundary con-
ditions I0 ≡ I(τ = α · s = 0) = 0. To simplify notations I will drop the ν
subscript. The homogeneous solution is
dI
= −I → I(τ ) = I0 e−τ . (21)
dτ
In order to find the particular solution we will insert the trial solution C(τ )e−τ
into equation 20:
j
C ′ e−τ − Ce−τ = −Ce−τ + ; (22)
α
j j
C ′ = eτ → C(τ ) = (eτ − 1). (23)
α α
So, the general solution is
j
I(τ ) = I0 e−τ + (1 − e−τ ). (24)
α
By incorporating the boundary conditions, the intensity is
j
I(τ ) = (1 − e−τ ). (25)
α
In the optically thin limit:
j j
I(τ ) = (1 − 1 + τ ) = τ = js, (26)
α α

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where s is the length of the path inside the spherical cloud. In the optically
thick limit:
j
I(τ ) = = B(T ), (27)
α
where B (T ) is the Planck function, or the intensity of thermal radiation (Kirch-
hoff’s law).

1. For an optically thin cloud, from geometrical considerations

p
I = 2j R2 − b2 . (28)

For an optically thick cloud it will just be B (T ), independent of b.

2. For an optically thin cloud, the energy is radiated from all the cloud’s
volume. Energy conservation implies that this energy needs to be equal
to the energy passing through any sphere around the cloud per unit time.
If d is the distance from the cloud to Earth,

4 3 4 R3
4πd2 F = πR · 4πj → F = π 2 j, (29)
3 3 d
where 4πj is due to isotropic emission.
For an optically thick cloud,

L 4πR2 R2
F = = F surface = π B, (30)
4πd2 4πd2 d2
where this follows from the known relation for isotropic brightness,
Z 1
Fsurface = B 2πµ dµ = πI. (31)
0

3. For an optically thin cloud, in the above relation we will replace F with
σsb Teff , and d with R, to get
  14
2 4 4 4πj
4πR σsb Teff = πR3 · 4πj → Teff = R . (32)
3 3σsb

For an optically thick cloud the brightness is thermal, so Teff = T .