Identification

Title

Rayleigh scattering in spectral series with L-term interference

Abstract

We derive a formalism to describe the scattering of polarized radiation over the full spectral range encompassed by atomic transitions belonging to the same spectral series (e.g., the H i Lyman and Balmer series, the UV multiplets of Fe i and Fe ii). This allows us to study the role of radiation-induced coherence among the upper terms of the spectral series, and its contribution to Rayleigh scattering and the polarization of the solar continuum. We rely on previous theoretical results for the emissivity of a three-term atom of the Λ-type, taking into account partially coherent scattering, and generalize its expression in order to describe a "multiple Λ" atomic system underlying the formation of a spectral series. Our study shows that important polarization effects must be expected because of the combined action of partial frequency redistribution and radiation-induced coherence among the terms of the series. In particular, our model predicts the correct asymptotic limit of 100% polarization in the far wings of a complete (i.e., delta-L=0,+/- 1) group of transitions, which must be expected on the basis of the principle of spectroscopic stability.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7bz68mj

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2017-11-28T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact