8 -The Interstellar Medium

Emission-Line Nebulae

H II Regions Planetary Supernova

Nebulae Remnants
Reflection Nebulae
Dark Clouds
•Giant Molecular Clouds
•Bok Globules
•Diffuse Clouds
<n> ~1 cm-3 in spiral arms
nHe/nH~0.1
(nO + nC + nN + nNe)/nH ~ 3x10-4

“Face-on”? (M 51)
 GAS

Clouds GMCs Diffuse Nebulae Planetary Nebulae

M 104-107 M 102-104 M 0.1-1 M

R 20-80 pc ~10 pc ≤ 0.1 pc
n 200-106 cm-3 ~102 cm-3 103-104 cm-3
T ~10 K ~8000 K 10,000-15,000 K
Heating CRs, Xrays Hot Young Stars Hot Old Stars
Cooling H2, CO, Dust Mostly O+2, O+1, N+1

Intercloud Medium
“Warm” “Hot”

T ~70 K 5x105 K
n ~0.3-20 cm-3 ~0.03 cm-3
Heating CRs, Xrays, UV shocks, Xrays, hard UV
Cooling C+, Fe+, CO, Dust Ions, Bremsstrahlung

Also Novae & Supernovae ejecta

 DUST
Solid Grains C, Si, O, + …? T≤ 1200 K
• Absorb & Scatter starlight
• Polarization Transmission & Scattering
• Thermal Emission
 Equilibrium States
Thermal Equilibrium
Detailed balancing for interacting systems

Atomic States Atomic Energy Levels

energy E1 E2 = energy E2 E1

Matter particles only “mechanical equilibrium”

Matter + Radiation “thermodynamic equilibrium” – “TE”

In TE, all distributions are homogeneous and isotropic, and can be

characterized by a single given temperature T.
 Ionization and Excitation in TE

For atoms in ionization state j (j=0 for neutrals), having an

ionization energy , and excitation state i, with an excitation
energy relative to the ground level, and a statistical weight for
occupation gi, the relative populations of i with respect to the
ground i=0 is:

And the relative populations of two adjacent ionization states

is:
 Statistical Equilibrium
Energy In = Energy Out of a particular state

This is a less stringent condition than TE.

The type of equilibrium that exists will depend on the way that the particles
in the system interact. If the mean free path and mean free time between
collisions are x and t,
If the temperature is constant over: we have:
a. times >> t, distances >> x thermal equilibrium
b. times >> t statistical equilibrium
c. distances >> x no equilibrium
d. none of the above no equilibrium
If both matter and radiation are in thermal equilibrium (including with one
another), we have TE. Sometimes, the conditions are not in “perfect TE”
everywhere in the system. Nevertheless, if it is sufficiently close enough not
to affect the processes sufficiently at a particular location, that location is
said to be in Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium – LTE.
 Interactions
Particle-Particle

Photon-Particle

Example – H II Region
electron-ion collisions
Typical n and T: n~10 and T~104:

xm=2x1010 cm versus sizes ~ 3x1018 cm

tm=400 s versus ages ~ 3x1013 s

So: electron-ion (and electron-electron) interactions:

•mechanical equilibrium
•maxwellian velocity distribution
 Matter-Radiation

Radiative lifetimes of atoms < 10 sec, and usually < 10-8 sec, much
shorter than matter-matter collisions usually do not have detailed
balancing. Upward collisional transition is followed by downward
radiative transition.

Radiation Field: VERY ANISOTROPIC!

“Dilution Factor”:

T~T* inside Ω
T<T* outside Ω

The photon field is not in thermal equilibrium, and Thermodynamic

Equilibrium is not present. Cannot use Boltzmann & Saha equations to
determine the excitation & ionization states!
 GAS RADIATION PHYSICS
Radiation Transfer - Basics
Using conservation of energy and
assuming a plane-parallel geometry
(good for most situations):

Specific Intensity

Mean
Intensity Flux
LuminosityThe net energy emitted (Watts or ergs/s)

Flux of Radiation at a distance r from a star of luminosity L:

Surface Area = 4πr2

Note that this true for the surface of the star,

It can also be shown that:

In general, a location in the nebula will be illuminated by

both the star and the rest of the nebula, so:
 BASIC EQUATION OF TRANSFER OF RADIATION

If we know what Sν is we can solve the equation of transfer.

For no incident radiation,
 Ionization Rate

For ionizations due to photons from all

directions and frequencies:

For an atom of number

density nA cm-3

Recombination Rate In Steady State

 Ionized Gas Clouds

Ionization cross sections

of H0, He0 and He+
from Osterbrock’s AGN2

13.6 eV 54.4 eV
24.6 eV
(from here, borrowing many tables & figures from Osterbrock’s AGN2 book)
 EXAMPLE – Inside a Typical H II Region

Here,

Near a “typical” hot

ionizing star, T*~4x104 K
and nneb~10 cm-3,

Now, so

or For nearly pure H,

DEFINE then,

H is almost totally ionized!

Of course, a star cannot ionize an infinite volume. As the
ionizing photons are consumed with distance from the star, H0
will build up. Eventually, photons will only penetrate ~ 1 mean
free path before being absorbed.

Approximate idealized
H II region –
“Strömgren* Sphere”

*(after Bengt Strömgren)

How big can this nebula be? If we equate the rate of ionizing
photons produced by the star to the recombination rate in the
nebula (assuming steady state), we get

For hydrogen, αB would include only recombinations to the n=2

quantum level and higher. Recombinations to n=1 will produce a
photon which will ionize some neutral H atom elsewhere, so
cannot be counted in the net recombination rate.
In a typical nebula, a typical recombination rate is:
After that, the radiative rate
downward by deexcitation
cascades goes as Aul~108 s-1.
So once recombination occurs,
almost all H0 is in the ground
(n=1) electronic state.

In a more realistic nebula, H+

and He+ regions will exist, and
may not have their outer radii
coincide.
Similarly, the metal
ions may have
numerous ionization
zones.
If the recombination rate per unit volume is

then the recombination time per ion is

On the other hand, tcollisions~102-103 sec, so tcoll <<<< trec,

allowing the particles in the gas to maintain a maxwellian
velocity distribution.
 Other Processes

Dielectric Recombination

Capture of e- excites a second e- 2 EXCITED ELECTRONS

This dominates the C++ + e- C+ reaction.

Charge-Exchange Reaction

Inside an H II region,

At the edge of an H II region,