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Assignment 2

1. The document discusses radiative processes occurring around young stars, including emission from dust particles in the circumstellar disk and possible contribution from an ionized wind. 2. It also examines emission mechanisms that could produce flat radio spectra observed at low frequencies from radio galaxies, including synchrotron radiation from aged electrons in the lobes. 3. Polarization measurements of the radio emission are used to determine the magnetic field strength in the interstellar medium between Earth and the radio galaxy. Inverse Compton scattering by relativistic electrons is identified as a possible mechanism for additional high-frequency emission seen toward the active galactic nucleus.

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11 views

Assignment 2

1. The document discusses radiative processes occurring around young stars, including emission from dust particles in the circumstellar disk and possible contribution from an ionized wind. 2. It also examines emission mechanisms that could produce flat radio spectra observed at low frequencies from radio galaxies, including synchrotron radiation from aged electrons in the lobes. 3. Polarization measurements of the radio emission are used to determine the magnetic field strength in the interstellar medium between Earth and the radio galaxy. Inverse Compton scattering by relativistic electrons is identified as a possible mechanism for additional high-frequency emission seen toward the active galactic nucleus.

Uploaded by

Sam B
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Radiative Processes: Assignment 2 –

Continuum processes
Michiel Hogerheijde, Leiden Observatory

Due date: May 4, 2023 (23:59)


Submit only via Brightspace!

1 The environment of a young star


Newly formed stars are often surrounded by a disk of gas and dust as sketched
in Fig. 1, and drive a wind of ionized gas. In this problem we will construct
the combined spectrum of the star, the thermal emission of the dust particles,
and any contribution of the ionized wind. The stellar spectrum can be simply
approximated by a single blackbody at a temperature T∗ ≈ 4000 K for this
0.5 M object.
Next we consider the emission from the dust particles in the disk. These
grains are heated by the stellar radiation, and one can show that their tem-
perature has the following radial dependence:

Tdust = T0 (R/R0 )−q , (1)

where R0 is some fixed radius (e.g., 1 AU). The flux received by an observer
at distance D and viewing angle θ is easily found from
Z R2
−2
Fν = D cos θ Bν (Tdust )2πRdR, (2)
R1

where we assume that the disk extends from an inner radius R1 to an outer
radius R2 , and is entirely optically thick at all considered wavelengths. (At
some long wavelength the emission will become optically thin, but we neglect
that for now.)

1
ionized wind

star

disk

Figure 1: Schematic drawing of the environment of a young star.

a. Show that from eqs. (1) and (2) you can find

4πhν 3  kT 2/q
0 2
Z x2
x
Fν = 2 2
cos θ R0 x q dx. (3)
D c hν x1 e −1
If we assume that the integral in Eq. (3) can be relatively easily cal-
culated and is independent of ν (that it is, it simplifies to a finite
numerical value), we find Fν ∝ ν 3−2/q .

b. Draw this spectrum from the disk in relation to the stellar blackbody
spectrum for q = 1. Take into account what you can say about the
frequencies at which
R
the grains radiate, and what you can say about
the total flux F = Fν dν from the disk with respect to that of the star.
Let’s now consider what happens at low frequencies, where the disk’s
emission may become optically thin, and where other emission pro-
cesses may also be important. Fig. 2 shows the spectrum that is ob-
served at these frequencies. At the low frequency end of the spectrum,
the emission is found to be a very flat function of ν.

c. What emission process could generate such a specturm, and what com-
ponent in the stellar environment (cf. Fig. 1) could be responsible for
this emission?

2
~ freq^1

log F_nu ~ flat

log frequency

Figure 2: Observed spectrum at low frequencies.


galaxy
radio lobe
active nucleus

position B position A

Figure 3: Schematic overview of the galaxy and its radio lobes.

2 Ageing electrons in the radio lobes of a


galaxy.
In this problem we revisit the radio galaxy that we studied in one of the
werkcolleges.
The radio emission that is observed from a galaxy is sketched in Fig. 3.
We see that two lobes of emission emanate from the central galaxy. This
is material that is ejected at high speeds from the Active Galactic Nucleus,
presumably an accreting black hole. The emission spectra at two locations
in one of the lobes are considered here (locations A and B).
a. The observed emission is partially linearly polarized. At two observing

3
frequencies, 200 and 220 MHz, the position angle of the polarization
vector of the emission is found to change by 20 degrees. What process
is responsible for this change in orientation?
Derive an expression for the rate of change of the measured polarization
angle as function of frequency, dφ(ν)/dν, where φ(ν) is the measured
polarization angle at the two frequencies. Hint: at any frequency, the
measured polarization angle consist of the original, frequency indepen-
dent angle + a frequency dependent rotation of that angle.
R
What is the rotation measure, defined as RM = nBk ds, that follows
from the observed change in orientation?
We assume that the rotation measure is dominated by the line of
sight through the Milky Way Galaxy, which we estimate at 350 pc
length. If we also assume that the average interstellar electron density is
0.06 cm−3 , what (lower limit to the) interstellar magnetic field strength
do you find? (in Gauss; cgs units! electron charge = 4.803 × 10−10 esu.)

b. Now let’s zoom in on the central regions of the galaxy. At this loca-
tion, we observe a very bright source, with a spectrum close to that
of a 30,000 K blackbody. This is probably emission associated directly
with accretion onto the black hole: material glowing as it is accreted.
The observed spectrum is plotted in Fig. 4. Clearly, a high frequency
tail to the spectrum is observed that does not belong to the blackbody
spectrum. This emission is unpolarized, and has a spectral slope iden-
tical to that found for the radio emission (seen at low frequencies in
the same plot). What mechanism, possibly related to the particles re-
sponsible for the radio emission, could be causing this high frequency
emission?

4
high frequency ’tail’

blackbody ~30,000 K
radio
log F_nu

log frequency

Figure 4: Spectrum observed toward the center of the galaxy and driving
source of the radio lobes.

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