A comment on proposed mechanisms for the excitation of O(1S) in the aurora

A recent assessment by Rees (1984) of the contribution made to the excitation of O(¹S) in the aurora by the reaction of N₂(A³Σ⁺) with O(³P) is re-examined. It is demonstrated that the contribution attributed to this reaction may have been seriously under-estimated and it is shown that the results of recent laboratory investigations do not preclude this reaction as a major source of O(¹s) in the aurora.     

O(S) excitation mechanism and atmospheric tides

There are two mechanisms which can account for the oxygen green line emission at 100 km Altitude, namely the Chapman and Barth mechanisms. Theoretical results and experimental data are used in order to discriminate which of these predominates in the atmosphere. In particular we have used an important new test which consists in comparing the phase of the mean diurnal variation of the green line intensity with the phase of the tide responsible for this variation. This is a powerful test because the phase of the green line variation calculated from the tidal phase has a very weak dependence on the atmospheric model used. Our conclusion is that in the atmosphere the Chapman mechanism predominates.     

An indirect mechanism for the production of O(1S) in the aurora

Recent laboratory measurements of the deactivation rate constants for O(¹S) have suggested that the dominant production mechanism for the green line in the nightglow is a two-step process. A similar mechanism involving energy transfer from an excited state of molecular oxygen is considered as a potential source of the OI (5577 Å) emission in the aurora. It is shown that the mechanism, $\text{O}{}_2\text{+ e → O}{}_2{}^1\text{+ e O}{}_2{}^1\text{+ O → O}{}_2\text{+ O(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$, is consistent with auroral observations; the intermediate excited state has been tentatively identified as the O₂(c¹∑^?_u) state. For the proposed energy transfer mechanism to be the primary source of the auroral green line, the peak electron impact cross-section for O₂¹ production must be approximately 2 × 10^?17 cm².     

Auroral implications of recent measurements on O(1S) and O(1S) formation in the reaction of N+ with O2

Recent flowing afterglow measurements have shown that the reaction of N⁺ with O₂ produces 70 ± 30% of the oxygen atom product as $\text{O}\text{(}{}^1\text{D}\text{)}$ and < 0.1% as $\text{O}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$. These results indicate that this reaction does not contribute to the auroral green line emission (5577 Å), but can account for ～10% of the observed red line (6300 Å) auroral emission.     

Excitation of O(1S) and emission of 5577 Å radiation in aurora

The results of recent laboratory experiments suggest that the reaction N⁺ + O₂ → NO⁺ + O(¹S) is the principal source of O(¹S) in aurora. A negligible time delay between auroral ionization and O(¹S) production is associated with this indirect process, which is a necessary condition for a viable mechanism. The $\text{5577}\text{A}\text{?}\text{3914}\text{A}\text{?}$ volume emission rate ratio associated with this production source remains constant with altitude. The problems encountered by the currently accepted source of O(¹S), the reaction of N₂(A³Σ) molecules with atomic oxygen are explored, and the contributions of this and other reactions to the auroral green line emission are reevaluated.     

The O(1S) quantum yield from O2+ dissociative recombination

Recent laboratory studies show that the $\text{O}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$ quantum yield, $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$, from O₂⁺ dissociative recombination varies considerably with the degree r of vibrational excitation. However, the suggestion that the high values for $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$ deduced from airglow and auroral observations can be explained by invoking vibrational excitation, creates a number of problems. Firstly, the rapid vibrational deactivation of O₂⁺ ions by collisions with O atoms will keep r too low to account for the magnitude of $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$; secondly, r varies considerably from one atmospheric source to another but its relative values (which should be reliable) do not co-vary with those of $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$; thirdly, because r increases markedly above the peak of the $\text{X5577}\text{A}\text{?}$ dissociative recombination layer, the fits which theorists have obtained to the observed volume emission rate profiles would have to be regarded as fortuitious. It is tentatively suggested that $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$ is higher in the airglow and aurora than in the laboratory plasma studied by Zipf (1980) because of the electron temperature dependence of the $\text{O}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$ specific recombination coefficient for O₂⁺(v^' ? 3) ions.The repulsive ${}^1\text{Σ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>u</mtext>}}\text{[}{}^1\text{D}\text{+}{}^1\text{s}\text{]}$ state of O₂ does not provide a suitable channel for the dissociative recombination. A possible alternative is the bound ${}^3\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>u</mtext>}}\text{[}{}^5\text{S}\text{+}{}^3\text{s}\text{]}$ state with predissociation to the repulsive ${}^3\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>u</mtext>}}\text{[}{}^3\text{P}\text{+}{}^1\text{s}\text{]}$ state.     

The S(c) spectrum machine to visualize the motion in galaxies

The behavior of the orbits in a galaxy model composed of an harmonic core and a strong bar potential is studied. Numerical calculations show that a large number of orbits display chaotic motion. These orbits are low angular momentun orbits. The percentage of chaotic orbits increases as the angular velocity of the system increases or the strength of the harmonic term decreases. A new dynamical parameter, the S(c) spectrum, is introduced and used to detect the island motion and the evolution of the sticky regions. Comparison to previously obtained results reveals the leading role of the new spectrum. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The quenching rate of O(1D) by O(3P)

The rate coefficient for the quenching ofO(¹D) by O(³P) has recently been calculated by Yee et al. (1985). Their results indicate that quenching by atomic oxygen should not be ignored in the analysis of the 6300 Å emission airglow. Data obtained by the Visible Airglow Experiment (VAE) on board the AE satellites have been reanalyzed to determine the quenching rate of O(¹D) by atomic oxygen. The results of this analysis are presented.     

The predicted infrared spectrum of ZrO and its possible presence in S stars

The unidentified absorption feature at 9730±5 Å observed in the spectra of pure S stars is provisionally identified with the predicted 9732 Å (0,0) band of thee ¹II-c ¹ transition of ZrO molecule. Relative band strengths and band head positions ofthis transition in the 8300–12 500 Å region are presented to assist both laboratory and stellar spectral studies. The insistent need for the laboratory study of gas phase infrared spectrum of ZrO is accentuated.     

On the proposals of Chapman and of Barth for O(1S) formation in the upper atmosphere

It is argued that Chapman's process is too slow to explain the green line emission in the nightglow but that Barth's two-stage mechanism is fast enough. The key to the difference in their efficiencies is that the life-time of Chapman's intermediate [O₃] complex is very much shorter than that of Barth's intermediate [O₃] complex because of its greater internal energy. Consequently the chance of the representative mass point passing from the initial surface to the required final surface is very much less in the former case than the latter where O(¹S) is one of the products in a quite considerable fraction of the decays of the complex.     

The violet opacity in the red peculiar stars (I)

Moderate dispersion (25–35 Å mm^–1) spectra were obtained from two carbon stars, LW Cyg and Y Tau, in a wide range of wavelengths ( 3400–6800 Å) with the 6 m echellespectrometer ZEBRA and two dimensional photon-counting system. Spectral feature identification was carried out from 3800 to 6300 Å. Most of the bands are due to C₂, CN, and SiC₂, however, atomic lines of the iron peak and s-process element also are represented. LW Cyg have intense isotopic carbon bands. The wavelengths and band-intensity were estimated.     

The violet opacity in the red peculiar stars (II)

Moderate dispersion (25-35 Å mm^–1) spectra were obtained from two carbon stars, V Cyg and WZ Cas, in a wide range of wavelengths (3400-6800 Å) with the echelle-spectrometer, ZEBRA, of the 6 m telescope and two-dimensional photon-counting system. Spectral feature identification was carried out from 3850 to 6200 Å. Most of the bands are due to C₂, SiC₂, and CN, however, particularly in WZ Cas, moderate atomic lines of the iron peak and s-process elements are also found. WZ Cas is a so-called lithium star, however, we have found no evidence for a strong line of Li. The spectra of V Cyg contain an emission line of H.     

The fermi mechanism and the source spectrum of cosmic ray nuclei

It is shown that the velocity term, occurring in the expression for the rate of energy gain by the Fermi mechanism of acceleration, is to be taken into account in case of acceleration of non-relativistic particles. A spectral form of accelerated particles is derived on this basis and is called the ‘Fermi Spectrum’. At non-relativistic energies this spectral form is significantly different from the currently used forms of power law in total energy per nucleon and in rigidity, and lies about midway between them. It is shown that using this form of source spectrum of cosmic ray nuclei, satisfactory agreement can be obtained between the calculated values and the observed ones of the ratios of H²/He⁴ and He³/He⁴, and the energy spectra of protons and helium nuclei near the Earth.     

Morphology of HCN and CN in Comet Hale-Bopp (1995 O1)

We compare images of Comet Hale-Bopp (1995 O1) in HCN and CN taken near perihelion (April 1, 1997) to determine the origin of CN in comets. We imaged the J=1→0 transition of HCN at λ=3 mm with the BIMA Array. Data from two weeks around perihelion were summed within four phase bins based on the rotational period of the comet. This increases both the signal-to-noise ratio and the u-v coverage while decreasing the smearing of the spatial features. The similarly phased narrowband CN images were taken at Lowell Observatory within the same range of dates as the HCN images. We find that there is a better correlation between HCN and CN than between HCN and the optically dominant dust. If the CN in jets does have a dust source it would have to have a very low albedo and/or small particle size. The production rates are consistent with HCN being a primary parent of CN, although there are discrepancies between the HCN destruction scalelength and the CN production scalelength which we discuss.     

The Nucleus of Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1): Size and Activity

A review of our current understanding of Comet Hale-Bopp’s nuclear size is presented. Currently the best constraints on the effective radiusare derived from late-1996 mid-IR data and near-perihelion radio data.Unfortunately the two regimes give differing answers for the radius. A possible reconciliation of the two datasets is presented that would place the radius at around 30 km. This is a large cometary radius compared to the others that are known, and this motivates a discussion of what makes a large comet different. From several possible large-comet properties, Hale-Bopp’s activity is analyzed, focusing on the production rates, coma jet features, dust optical depth, and relationship with the interplanetary dust environment. The optical depth is particularly important since an optically-thick inner coma could complicate attempted measurements of the “nucleus”.     

Observation of the [O III] 1 4363 auroral line in the spectrum of kaz 163

The results of spectroscopic observations of the nucleus of the S component of the galaxy Kaz 163, carried out on the 6-m telescope of the Special Astronomical Observatory in 1982, are presented. The equivalent widths, relative intensities, and half-widths of emission lines were determined. The electron temperature, electron density, and mass of the gaseous component of the nucleus were also determined. The half-widths and equivalent widths varied almost twofold over the time of observations from October 31, 1981, to May 28, 1982. During the same time the intensity of the [O III] λ 4363 auroral line increased fairly strongly. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 183-189, April–June, 2000.     

The detection and interpretation of the orthohelium emission at 5876 Å in aurora

A review of the published observations of the HeI emission at 5876 Å in aurora is presented. The emission is considered to originate from energetic precipitating helium ions, neutralized and excited several times before the atoms become thermalized in the upper atmosphere.     

Astrometric positions of comet Hale-opp (1995 O1) in 1995

Nine positions of comet Hale-Bopp (1995 O1), derived from the X-Y positions on Bosscha Schmidt plates, taken between August 15 to August 22, 1995, are given.