Three-dimensional Distribution of the Escape Photons of Hα Flares

A technique for obtaining a three-dimensional distribution of received pho- tons in Hα flares in the solar atmosphere is presented.It is well known that during flares hydrogen atoms in the chromosphere and photosphere are excited(even ion- ized)by the downward heating of non-thermal particles and then emit Hα photons. We trace back these Ha photons to their original layers by use of the contribution func- tion in the theory of spectral line formation,and so acquire their three-dimensional (3D)distribution.This technique is applied to the two-ribbon flare of 2002 January 20.The atmospheric models are obtained by fitting the“quasi-profiles”with the help of the generally used model atmospheres.Since the variety of the 3D images reflects the response of the atmospheric layers to the impact of energy transport,an analysis of the development of the flare is given through a comparison of the 3D images with the 2D temperature distribution.     

A new way to measure the departure from thermodynamic equilibrium in stellar atmospheres

A new way to measure the departure from thermodynamic equilibrium is proposed based on the departure factor which evaluates the deviation from a Boltzmann level distribution, used by Short and Hauschildt (2005) and others. The way is based on an explicit relationship describing the departure factor as a function of line to continuum source, dynamic temperature and line photon frequency, under three assumptions that the scattering can be neglected, the background continuum can be treated as a Planck function, and finally the complete redistribution can be true. It has the advantage that the departure can be very conveniently evaluated from the spectral analysis with only the radiative transfer involved. Some physical insights are recovered for some extreme cases.Some example calculations of the departure are presented for the quiet Sun, faint solar flare and strong solar flare for the generally used solar chromospheric lines: Hα, Hβ,CaII H, K and triplet. It is revealed that in the case of solar flares, the departure is less than thermodynamic equilibrium along the larger depth range than in the quiet sun due to chromospheric condensation. It becomes hard to distinguish the departures for the different lines of the same atom or ion. It is expected that this investigation can be constructive for studying stellar atmospheres in cases where the three assumptions are close to reality.     

Non-LTE Analysis of the Sodium Abundance of Metal- Poor Stars in the Galactic Disk and Halo

We performed an extensive non-LTE analysis of the neutral sodium lines of Na I 5683/5688, 5890/5896, 6154/6161, and 8183/8195 in disk/halo stars of types F-K covering a wide metallicity range (-4 (?) [Fe/H] (?) +0.4), using our own data as well as data collected from the literature. For comparatively metal-rich disk stars (-1(?) [Fe/H] (?) +0.4) where the weaker 6154/6161 lines are the best abundance indicators, we confirmed [Na/Fe]- 0 with an "upturn" (i.e., a shallow/broad dip around -0.5 (?) [Fe/H](?) 0) as already reported in previous studies. For the metal-deficient halo stars, where the much stronger 5890/5896 or 8183/8195 lines subject to considerable (negative) non-LTE corrections amounting to 0.5 dex have to be used, our analysis suggests mildly "subsolar" [Na/Fe] values down to--0.4 (with a somewhat large scatter of-±0.2 dex) on the average at the typical halo metallicity of [Fe/H] --2, followed by a rise again to a near-solar ratio of [Na/Fe] - 0 at the very metal-poor regime [Fe/H]--3 to -4