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Full-Text Articles in Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy
Mid-Infrared Studies Of Galactic Sources: Probing The Relationship Between Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons And Their Physical Environment, Collin Matthew Knight
Mid-Infrared Studies Of Galactic Sources: Probing The Relationship Between Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons And Their Physical Environment, Collin Matthew Knight
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Over the past 50 years, prominent mid-infrared (MIR) emission features from 3--20 $\mu$m have been observed ubiquitously in the interstellar medium (ISM) of Galactic and extragalactic sources. These emission features arise from the vibrational relaxation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) after the absorption of a far-ultraviolet (FUV) photon. PAHs are astronomically significant in that they contain up to 15\% of the cosmic carbon inventory and play an important role in the physical and chemical processes of the ISM such as, for example, the gas heating and the ionization balance. Variations in the relative strengths of the major PAH bands can …
Dicke’S Superradiance In Astrophysics, Fereshteh Rajabi
Dicke’S Superradiance In Astrophysics, Fereshteh Rajabi
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
It is generally assumed that in the interstellar medium much of the emission emanating from atomic and molecular transitions within a radiating gas happen independently for each atom or molecule, but as was pointed out by R. H. Dicke in a seminal paper several decades ago this assumption does not apply in all conditions. As will be discussed in this thesis, and following Dicke’s original analysis, closely packed atoms/molecules can interact with their common electromagnetic field and radiate coherently through an effect he named superradiance. Superradiance is a cooperative quantum mechanical phenomenon characterized by high intensity, spatially compact, burst-like features …