13 research outputs found
High-precision calculations of van der Waals coefficients for heteronuclear alkali-metal dimers
Van der Waals coefficients for the heteronuclear alkali-metal dimers of Li,
Na, K, Rb, Cs, and Fr are calculated using relativistic ab initio methods
augmented by high-precision experimental data. We argue that the uncertainties
in the coefficients are unlikely to exceed about 1%.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figs, graphicx.st
High-precision determination of transition amplitudes of principal transitions in Cs from van der Waals coefficient C_6
A method for determination of atomic dipole matrix elements of principal
transitions from the value of dispersion coefficient C_6 of molecular
potentials correlating to two ground-state atoms is proposed. The method is
illustrated on atomic Cs using C_6 deduced from high-resolution Feshbach
spectroscopy. The following reduced matrix elements are determined < 6S_{1/2}
|| D || 6P_{1/2} > =4.5028(60) |e| a0 and
=6.3373(84) |e| a0 (a0= 0.529177 \times 10^{-8} cm.) These matrix elements are
consistent with the results of the most accurate direct lifetime measurements
and have a similar uncertainty. It is argued that the uncertainty can be
considerably reduced as the coefficient C_6 is constrained further.Comment: 4 pages; 3 fig
New Insights into White-Light Flare Emission from Radiative-Hydrodynamic Modeling of a Chromospheric Condensation
(abridged) The heating mechanism at high densities during M dwarf flares is
poorly understood. Spectra of M dwarf flares in the optical and
near-ultraviolet wavelength regimes have revealed three continuum components
during the impulsive phase: 1) an energetically dominant blackbody component
with a color temperature of T 10,000 K in the blue-optical, 2) a smaller
amount of Balmer continuum emission in the near-ultraviolet at lambda 3646
Angstroms and 3) an apparent pseudo-continuum of blended high-order Balmer
lines. These properties are not reproduced by models that employ a typical
"solar-type" flare heating level in nonthermal electrons, and therefore our
understanding of these spectra is limited to a phenomenological interpretation.
We present a new 1D radiative-hydrodynamic model of an M dwarf flare from
precipitating nonthermal electrons with a large energy flux of erg
cm s. The simulation produces bright continuum emission from a
dense, hot chromospheric condensation. For the first time, the observed color
temperature and Balmer jump ratio are produced self-consistently in a
radiative-hydrodynamic flare model. We find that a T 10,000 K
blackbody-like continuum component and a small Balmer jump ratio result from
optically thick Balmer and Paschen recombination radiation, and thus the
properties of the flux spectrum are caused by blue light escaping over a larger
physical depth range compared to red and near-ultraviolet light. To model the
near-ultraviolet pseudo-continuum previously attributed to overlapping Balmer
lines, we include the extra Balmer continuum opacity from Landau-Zener
transitions that result from merged, high order energy levels of hydrogen in a
dense, partially ionized atmosphere. This reveals a new diagnostic of ambient
charge density in the densest regions of the atmosphere that are heated during
dMe and solar flares.Comment: 50 pages, 2 tables, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in the Solar
Physics Topical Issue, "Solar and Stellar Flares". Version 2 (June 22, 2015):
updated to include comments by Guest Editor. The final publication is
available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11207-015-0708-