Intensity of interstellar Lyman alpha

B. T. Draine; E. E. Salpeter

doi:10.1038/271730a0

Intensity of interstellar Lyman alpha

B. T. Draine, E. E. Salpeter

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Abstract

TARAFDAR and Wickramasinghe¹ suggested that the Lyman alpha (Lα) intensity in the interstellar medium may be in the range (1-4) × 10^-4 erg cm ^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 and have pointed out that, if this is the case, Lα may play an important part in photoemission from interstellar grains. Here we argue that typical Lα intensities in interstellar HI are significantly less than 1 × 10 ^-4 erg cm ^-2 s^-1 sr^-1, considering three principal sources: photoionised HII regions; shock-heated gas; and collisional excitation and recombination in interstellar HI.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	730-731
Number of pages	2
Journal	Nature
Volume	271
Issue number	5647
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/271730a0
State	Published - Dec 1 1978
Externally published	Yes

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title = "Intensity of interstellar Lyman alpha",

abstract = "TARAFDAR and Wickramasinghe1 suggested that the Lyman alpha (Lα) intensity in the interstellar medium may be in the range (1-4) × 10-4 erg cm -2 s-1 sr-1 and have pointed out that, if this is the case, Lα may play an important part in photoemission from interstellar grains. Here we argue that typical Lα intensities in interstellar HI are significantly less than 1 × 10 -4 erg cm -2 s-1 sr-1, considering three principal sources: photoionised HII regions; shock-heated gas; and collisional excitation and recombination in interstellar HI.",

author = "Draine, {B. T.} and Salpeter, {E. E.}",

year = "1978",

month = dec,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1038/271730a0",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "271",

pages = "730--731",

journal = "Nature",

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T1 - Intensity of interstellar Lyman alpha

AU - Draine, B. T.

AU - Salpeter, E. E.

PY - 1978/12/1

Y1 - 1978/12/1

N2 - TARAFDAR and Wickramasinghe1 suggested that the Lyman alpha (Lα) intensity in the interstellar medium may be in the range (1-4) × 10-4 erg cm -2 s-1 sr-1 and have pointed out that, if this is the case, Lα may play an important part in photoemission from interstellar grains. Here we argue that typical Lα intensities in interstellar HI are significantly less than 1 × 10 -4 erg cm -2 s-1 sr-1, considering three principal sources: photoionised HII regions; shock-heated gas; and collisional excitation and recombination in interstellar HI.

AB - TARAFDAR and Wickramasinghe1 suggested that the Lyman alpha (Lα) intensity in the interstellar medium may be in the range (1-4) × 10-4 erg cm -2 s-1 sr-1 and have pointed out that, if this is the case, Lα may play an important part in photoemission from interstellar grains. Here we argue that typical Lα intensities in interstellar HI are significantly less than 1 × 10 -4 erg cm -2 s-1 sr-1, considering three principal sources: photoionised HII regions; shock-heated gas; and collisional excitation and recombination in interstellar HI.

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VL - 271

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EP - 731

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 5647

ER -

Intensity of interstellar Lyman alpha

Abstract

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