Jeffrey W. Brosius and Bruce E. Woodgate 1999 ApJ 514 430 doi:10.1086/306943
Jeffrey W. Brosius1,3 and Bruce E. Woodgate2
Show affiliationsWe present theoretical calculations of temporal variations in the nonthermal redshifted Lyα emission due to time-invariant proton beams injected into a stellar atmosphere during the impulsive phase of a flare. The computations are performed for a power-law spectrum of nonthermal proton energies injected into a model stellar atmosphere consisting of pure hydrogen in local thermodynamic equilibrium; beam-induced variations in temperature and particle densities at all depths and for all times are calculated with the Saha equation. We characterized the injected model proton beams with the total energy flux
and the power-law index δ and computed time-dependent nonthermal redshifted Lyα emission profiles for five different values of
and three different values of δ. Based upon trends evident in the resulting emission, proton beam properties can be deduced from sufficiently high-quality observations of the nonthermal redshifted Lyα profile. The beam penetration depth initially decreases with time, but in most cases it increases again after reaching some minimum value. This behavior is due to changes in the ionization and temperature of the atmosphere. The Lyα intensity also initially decreases with time, but in most cases it reaches a relative minimum, increases again to a secondary relative maximum, and then slowly but steadily decreases thereafter. Observable properties of this time-dependent emission, such as the ratio of the profile's peak spectral intensity at relative minimum to that at beam onset (Irelmin/I0), the difference between the profile's width at beam onset and that at the secondary relative maximum (FWHM0-FWHMrelmax), and the difference between the profile's centroid wavelength shift at beam onset and that at relative minimum (Δλ0-Δλrelmin) can be used to deduce δ. Once δ is known,
can be deduced from other observable properties such as I0 and the times since beam onset at which the Lyα intensity reaches its relative minimum and secondary relative maximum values (trelmin and trelmax).
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal; stars: flare; Sun: flares; Sun: UV radiation; ultraviolet: stars
Issue 1 (1999 March 20)
Received 1998 September 3, accepted for publication 1998 October 8
Jeffrey W. Brosius and Bruce E. Woodgate 1999 ApJ 514 430
Alessandro Fedrizzi et al 2009 New J. Phys. 11 103052
M Štefanák et al 2006 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 39 14965
Xie Jian-Ping et al 2009 Chinese Phys. Lett. 26 117501
J Kreisel et al 2000 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 12 3267
Brian Diffey 2006 Phys. Med. Biol. 51 R229
D. C. B. Whittet et al. 2004 ApJ 602 291
Saeyoung Shin et al. 2005 ApJ 619 407
F Liu and Y Lu 2007 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 34 S1073
Hélène M. L. G. Flohic et al. 2006 ApJ 647 140