High Energy Astrophysics

✍ Scribed by Malcolm S. Longair

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 885
• Edition: 3
• Category: Library

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Ancient history
The new edition
Acknowledgements
Figure credits
PART I: ASTRONOMICAL BACKGROUND
1 High energy astrophysics – an introduction
1.1 High energy astrophysics andmodern physics and astronomy
1.2 The sky in different astronomical wavebands
1.3 Optical waveband
1.3.1 Observing in the optical waveband
1.3.2 Optical all-sky images
1.4 Infrared waveband
1.4.1 Observing in the infrared waveband
1.4.2 Infrared all-sky images
1.5 Millimetre and submillimetre waveband
1.5.1 Observing in the millimetre and submillimetre waveband
1.5.2 Millimetre and submillimetre all-sky images
1.6 Radio waveband
1.6.1 Radio astronomy and the origin of high energy astrophysics
1.6.2 Neutral hydrogen andmolecular line astronomy
1.6.3 Observing the radio sky
1.7 Ultraviolet waveband
1.8 X-ray waveband
1.8.1 Observing the X-ray sky
1.8.2 The X-ray sky
1.9 gamma-ray waveband
1.10 Cosmic ray astrophysics
1.10.1 A brief history of cosmic ray physics
1.10.2 Cosmic ray astrophysics from space and from the ground
1.11 Other non-electromagnetic astronomies
1.11.1 Neutrino astrophysics
1.11.2 The search for gravitational waves
1.11.3 Astroparticle physics
1.12 Concluding remarks
2 The stars and stellar evolution
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Basic observations
2.3 Stellar structure
2.3.1 The equations of hydrostatic support andmass conservation
2.3.2 The virial theorem for stars
2.4 The equations of energy generation and energy transport
2.5 The equations of stellar structure
2.6 The Sun as a star
2.6.1 Helioseismology and the internal structure of the Sun
2.6.2 Observations of solar neutrinos
2.7 Evolution of high and lowmass stars
2.7.1 The Hayashi track
2.7.2 Highmass stars
2.7.3 Low mass stars
2.8 Stellar evolution on the colour–magnitude diagram
2.9 Mass loss
2.9.1 P-Cygni profiles andWolf–Rayet stars
2.9.2 The horizontal branch
2.9.3 Planetary nebulae
2.9.4 Overall mass loss rates
2.10 Conclusion
3 The galaxies
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Hubble sequence
3.3 The red and blue sequences
3.3.1 Colour and absolute magnitude
3.3.2 Sersic´ index and colour
3.3.3 The effect of the galaxy environment
3.3.4 Mean stellar age and concentration index C
3.3.5 The new perspective
3.4 Further correlations among the properties of galaxies
3.4.1 Correlations along the Hubble sequence
3.4.2 The Tully–Fisher relation for spiral galaxies
3.4.3 Faber–Jackson relation and fundamental plane
3.4.4 Mass–metallicity relation for galaxies
3.5 The masses of galaxies
3.5.1 The virial theorem for galaxies and clusters
3.5.2 The rotation curves of spiral galaxies
3.5.3 The masses of elliptical galaxies
3.6 The luminosity function of galaxies
3.6.1 The luminosity density of starlight in the Universe
3.6.2 The mass-to-luminosity ratio for the Universe
3.6.3 Useful statistics about galaxies
4 Clusters of galaxies
4.1 The morphologies of rich clusters of galaxies
4.2 Clusters of galaxies and isothermal gas spheres
4.3 The Coma Cluster of galaxies
4.4 Mass distribution of hot gas and dark matter in clusters
4.5 Cooling flows in clusters of galaxies
4.6 The Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect in hot intracluster gas
4.7 Gravitational lensing by galaxies and clusters of galaxies
4.8 Darkmatter in galaxies and clusters of galaxies
4.8.1 Baryonic dark matter
4.8.2 Non-baryonic dark matter
4.8.3 Astrophysical and experimental limits
PART II: PHYSICAL PROCESSES
5 Ionisation losses
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Ionisation losses – non-relativistic treatment
5.2.1 Upper limit bmax
5.2.2 Lower limit bmin
5.3 The relativistic case
5.3.1 The relativistic transformation of an inverse square law Coulomb field
5.3.2 Relativistic ionisation losses
5.3.3 Relativistic collision between a high energy particle and a stationary electron
5.3.4 The Bethe–Bloch formula
5.4 Practical forms of the ionisation loss formulae
5.5 Ionisation losses of electrons
5.6 Nuclear emulsions, plastics andmeteorites
5.7 Dynamical friction
6 Radiation of accelerated charged particles and bremsstrahlung of electrons
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The radiation of accelerated charged particles
6.2.1 Relativistic invariants
6.2.2 The radiation of an accelerated charged particle – J. J. Thomson’s treatment
6.2.3 The radiation of an accelerated charged particle – from Maxwell’s equations
6.2.4 The radiation losses of accelerated charged particlesmoving at relativistic velocities
6.2.5 Parseval’s theorem and the spectral distribution the radiation of an accelerated electron
6.3 Bremsstrahlung
6.4 Non-relativistic bremsstrahlung energy loss rate
6.5 Thermal bremsstrahlung
6.5.1 Spectral emissivity of thermal bremsstrahlung
6.5.2 Thermal bremsstrahlung absorption
6.6 Relativistic bremsstrahlung
7 The dynamics of charged particles in magnetic fields
7.1 A uniform static magnetic field
7.2 A time-varyingmagnetic field
7.2.1 Physical approach to the non-relativistic case
7.2.2 Adiabatic invariant approach
7.3 The scattering of charged particles by irregularities in themagnetic field
7.4 The scattering of high energy particles by Alfven and hydromagnetic waves
7.5 The diffusion-loss equation for high energy particles
7.5.1 Elementary approach
7.5.2 The coordinate space approach
8 Synchrotron radiation
8.1 The total energy loss rate
8.2 Non-relativistic gyroradiation and cyclotron radiation
8.3 The spectrum of synchrotron radiation – physical arguments
8.4 The spectrum of synchrotron radiation – a fuller version
8.4.1 The spectrum of radiation of an arbitrarily moving electron
8.4.2 The system of coordinates
8.4.3 The algebra
8.4.4 The results
8.5 The synchrotron radiation of a power-law distribution of electron energies
8.5.1 Physical arguments
8.5.2 The full analysis
8.6 The polarisation of synchrotron radiation
8.7 Synchrotron self-absorption
8.7.1 Physical arguments
8.7.2 The absorption coefficient for synchrotron self-absorption
8.8 Useful numerical results
8.9 The radio emission of the Galaxy
9 Interactions of high energy photons
9.1 Photoelectric absorption
9.2 Thomson and Compton scattering
9.2.1 Thomson scattering
9.2.2 Compton scattering
9.3 Inverse Compton scattering
9.4 Comptonisation
9.4.1 The basic physics of Comptonisation
9.4.2 Pedagogical interlude – occupation number
9.4.3 The Kompaneets equation
9.5 The Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect
9.6 Synchrotron–self-Compton radiation
9.7 Cherenkov radiation
9.8 Electron–positron pair production
9.9 Electron–photon cascades, electromagnetic showers and the detection of ultra-high energy gamma-rays
9.10 Electron–positron annihilation and positron production mechanisms
10 Nuclear interactions
10.1 Nuclear interactions and high energy astrophysics
10.2 Spallation cross-sections
10.3 Nuclear emission lines
10.3.1 Decay of radioactive isotopes
10.3.2 Collisional excitation of nuclei
10.4 Cosmic rays in the atmosphere
10.4.1 Nucleonic cascades
10.4.2 Radioactive nuclei produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere
11 Aspects of plasma physics and magnetohydrodynamics
11.1 Elementary concepts in plasma physics
11.1.1 The plasma frequency and Debye length
11.1.2 The diffusion of charged particles
11.1.3 The electrical conductivity of a fully ionised plasma
11.2 Magnetic flux freezing
11.2.1 The physical approach
11.2.2 The magnetohydrodynamic approach
11.2.3 The Solar Wind
11.3 Shock waves
11.3.1 The basic properties of plane shock waves
11.3.2 The supersonic piston
11.4 The Earth’s magnetosphere
11.5 Magnetic buoyancy
11.6 Reconnection of magnetic lines of force
PART III: HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS IN OUR GALAXY
12 Interstellar gas and magnetic fields
12.1 The interstellar medium in the life cycle of stars
12.2 Diagnostic tools – neutral interstellar gas
12.2.1 Neutral hydrogen: 21-cm line emission and absorption
12.2.2 Molecular radio lines
12.2.3 Optical and ultraviolet absorption lines
12.2.4 X-ray absorption
12.3 Ionised interstellar gas
12.3.1 Thermal bremsstrahlung
12.3.2 Permitted and forbidden transitions in gaseous nebulae
12.3.3 The dispersion measure of pulsars
12.3.4 Faraday rotation of linearly polarised radio signals
12.4 Interstellar dust
12.5 An overall picture of the interstellar gas
12.5.1 Large scale dynamics
12.5.2 Heating mechanisms
12.5.3 Coolingmechanisms
12.5.4 The overall state of the interstellar gas
12.6 Star formation
12.6.1 The initialmass function and the Schmidt–Kennicutt law
12.6.2 Regions of star formation
12.6.3 Issues in the theory of star formation
12.7 The Galactic magnetic field
12.7.1 Faraday rotation in the interstellar medium
12.7.2 Optical polarisation of starlight
12.7.3 Radio emission of spinning dust grains
12.7.4 Zeeman splitting of 21-cm line radiation
12.7.5 The radio emission from the Galaxy
12.7.6 Summary of the information on the Galactic magnetic field
13 Dead stars
13.1 Supernovae
13.1.1 The historical supernovae and supernova typology
13.1.2 Type Ia supernovae
13.1.3 Core-collapse supernovae and the formation of neutron stars and black holes
13.1.4 Steady-state hydrostatic and explosive nucleosynthesis
13.1.5 The supernova SN 1987A
13.1.6 Final things
13.2 White dwarfs, neutron stars and the Chandrasekhar limit
13.2.1 The internal structure of degenerate stars
13.2.2 The Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarfs and neutron stars
13.3 White dwarfs
13.4 Neutron stars
13.5 The discovery of neutron stars
13.5.1 ‘Normal’ radio pulsars
13.5.2 Neutron stars in binary systems – X-ray binaries
13.5.3 Binary pulsars
13.5.4 Millisecond pulsars
13.5.5 Magnetars, soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars
13.6 The Galactic population of neutron stars
13.7 Thermal emission of neutron stars
13.8 Pulsar glitches
13.9 The pulsar magnetosphere
13.10 The radio and high energy emission of pulsars
13.11 Black holes
13.11.1 General relativity and the Schwarzschild metric
13.11.2 The general case of black holes in general relativity
13.11.3 Observational evidence for black holes
14 Accretion power in astrophysics
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Accretion – general considerations
14.2.1 The efficiency of the accretion process
14.2.2 The Eddington limiting luminosity
14.2.3 Black holes in X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei
14.3 Thin accretion discs
14.3.1 Conditions for thin accretion discs
14.3.2 The role of viscosity – the alpha parameter
14.3.3 The structure of thin discs
14.3.4 Accretion discs about black holes
14.3.5 The temperature distribution and emission spectra of thin discs
14.3.6 Detailedmodels of thin discs
14.4 Thick discs and advective flows
14.5 Accretion in binary systems
14.5.1 Binary star systems
14.5.2 Feeding the accretion disc
14.5.3 The role of magnetic fields
14.6 Accreting binary systems
14.6.1 Cataclysmic variables
14.6.2 Novae and Type Ia supernovae
14.6.3 Low mass X-ray binaries
14.6.4 Highmass X-ray binaries
14.7 Black holes in X-ray binaries
14.7.1 The thermal state
14.7.2 The hard state
14.7.3 The steep power-law state
14.7.4 Quasi-periodic oscillations, QPOs
14.7.5 Iron fluorescence lines
14.8 Final thoughts
15 Cosmic rays
15.1 The energy spectra of cosmic ray protons and nuclei
15.2 The abundances of the elements in the cosmic rays
15.2.1 The Solar Systemabundances of the elements
15.2.2 The chemical abundances in the cosmic rays
15.2.3 Isotopic abundances of cosmic rays
15.3 The isotropy and energy density of cosmic rays
15.4 Gamma ray observations of the Galaxy
15.5 The origin of the light elements in the cosmic rays
15.5.1 The transfer equation for light nuclei
15.5.2 Variations in the chemical composition of cosmic rays with energy
15.6 The confinement time of cosmic rays in the Galaxy and cosmic ray clocks
15.7 The confinement volume for cosmic rays
15.8 The Galactic halo
15.9 The highest energy cosmic rays and extensive air-showers
15.10 Observations of the highest energy cosmic rays
15.11 The isotropy of ultra-high energy cosmic rays
15.12 The Greisen–Kuzmin–Zatsepin (GKZ) cut-off
16 The origin of cosmic rays in our Galaxy
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Energy loss processes for high energy electrons
16.2.1 Ionisation losses
16.2.2 Bremsstrahlung
16.2.3 Adiabatic losses
16.2.4 Synchrotron radiation
16.2.5 Inverse Compton scattering
16.3 Diffusion-loss equation for high energy electrons
16.3.1 Distortions of the injection energy spectrum
16.3.2 The high energy electron energy spectrum in the local interstellar medium
16.4 Supernova remnants as sources of high energy particles
16.4.1 Radio observations of shell-like supernova remnants
16.4.2 gamma-ray observations of shell-type supernovae
16.5 The minimum energy requirements for synchrotron radiation
16.6 Supernova remnants as sources of high energy electrons
16.7 The evolution of supernova remnants
16.8 The adiabatic loss problem and the acceleration of high energy particles
17 The acceleration of high energy particles
17.1 General principles of acceleration
17.2 The acceleration of particles in solar flares
17.3 Fermi acceleration – original version
17.4 Diffusive shock acceleration in strong shock waves
17.5 Beyond the standard model
17.5.1 Magnetic fields in supernova shock fronts
17.5.2 Nonlinear diffuse shock acceleration
17.5.3 The energy spectrum of cosmic rays at and above the ‘knee’
17.6 The highest energy cosmic rays
PART IV: EXTRAGALACTIC HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS
18 Active galaxies
18.1 Introduction
18.2 Radio galaxies and high energy astrophysics
18.3 The quasars
18.3.1 The discovery of quasars
18.3.2 Finding radio-quiet quasars
18.4 Seyfert galaxies
18.5 Blazars, superluminal sources and gamma-ray sources
18.6 Low Ionisation Nuclear Emission Regions – LINERs
18.7 Ultra-Luminous InfraRed Galaxies – ULIRGs
18.8 X-ray surveys of active galaxies
18.9 Unification schemes for active galaxies
18.9.1 Polarisation studies of Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 galaxies
18.9.2 Radio quasars and radio galaxies
18.9.3 Conclusions
19 Black holes in the nuclei of galaxies
19.1 The properties of black holes
19.2 Elementary considerations
19.3 Dynamical evidence for supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei
19.3.1 Dynamical estimates of the masses of galactic nuclei
19.3.2 Examples of estimates of the masses of active galactic nuclei
M31
M87 or NGC 4486
M106 or NGC 4258
The black hole in the Galactic centre
19.4 The Soltan argument
19.5 Black holes and spheroid masses
19.6 X-ray observations of fluorescence lines in active galactic nuclei
19.6.1 Fluorescent X-ray lines
19.6.2 Pedagogical interlude – circular velocities about black holes
19.7 The growth of black holes in the nuclei of galaxies
19.7.1 The Salpeter time-scale
19.7.2 The Rees diagram
20 The vicinity of the black hole
20.1 The prime ingredients of active galactic nuclei
20.2 The continuum spectrum
20.3 The emission line regions – the overall picture
20.4 The narrow-line regions – the example of Cygnus A
20.5 The broad-line regions and reverberation mapping
20.5.1 The physical properties of the broad-line regions
20.5.2 Reverberation mapping
20.6 The alignment effect and shock excitation of emission line regions
20.7 Accretion discs about supermassive black holes
21 Extragalactic radio sources
21.1 Extended radio sources – Fanaroff–Riley types
21.2 The astrophysics of FR2 radio sources
21.2.1 Energetics and energy densities
21.2.2 Synchrotron losses and time-scales
21.2.3 The gas dynamics of FR2 radio sources
21.2.4 Young FR2 radio sources
21.3 The FR1 radio sources
21.4 The microquasars
21.5 Jet physics
22 Compact extragalactic sources and superluminalmotions
22.1 Compact radio sources
22.2 Superluminalmotions
22.3 Relativistic beaming
22.4 The superluminal source population
22.5 Synchro-Compton radiation and the inverse Compton catastrophe
22.6 gamma-ray sources in active galactic nuclei
22.7 gamma-ray bursts
22.7.1 The discovery of gamma-ray bursts
22.7.2 The properties of gamma-ray bursts
22.7.3 The physics of gamma-ray bursts
23 Cosmological aspects of high energy astrophysics
23.1 The cosmic evolution of galaxies and active galaxies
23.2 The essential theoretical tools
23.2.1 Euclidean source counts
23.2.2 Number counts for the standard worldmodels
23.2.3 The V/Vmax or luminosity–volume test
23.3 The evolution of non-thermal sources with cosmic epoch
23.3.1 Number counts and V/Vmax tests for extragalactic radio sources
23.3.2 Radio-quiet quasars
23.3.3 X-ray source counts
23.4 The evolution of thermal sources with cosmic epoch
23.4.1 The predicted number counts for galaxies
23.4.2 Counts of galaxies
23.5 Mid- and far-infrared number counts
23.6 Submillimetre number counts
23.7 The global star-formation rate
23.8 The old red galaxies
23.9 Putting it all together
Appendix: Astronomical conventions and nomenclature
A.1 Galactic coordinates and projections of the celestial sphere onto a plane
A.2 Distances in astronomy
A.3 Masses in astronomy
A.4 Flux densities, luminosities, magnitudes and colours
A.5 Diffraction-limited telescopes
A.6 Interferometry and synthesis imaging
A.7 The sensitivities of astronomical detectors
A.7.1 Optical and infrared detectors
A.7.2 Radio andmillimetre-wave receivers
A.8 Units and relativistic notation
A.8.1 SI units
A.8.2 Special relativity, four-vectors and basic energy relations
Bibliography
Name index
Object index
Index