Electron temperature variations and the measurement of nebular abundances

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

180

Abundance, Electron Energy, H Ii Regions, Nebulae, Astronomical Spectroscopy, Chemical Composition, Metallicity, Photoionization

Scientific paper

The potential sources of systematic uncertainty related to studying electron temperatures are examined in the context of deriving element abundances in H II regions. An illustration of the problem is developed for forbidden S III in Galactic H II regions, and attention is given to the overestimation of electron temperature T(e) due to the thermal structures of metal-rich nebulae. Accurate abundances for ions such as S(+2) and Ar(+2) are shown to require good characterizations of the temperature of each ion within a nebula, whereas some groups of ions can be described by common values of T(e). In order to measure abundances from collisionally excited lines in the UV it is important to avoid using lines which are sensitive to T(e) and to employ emission-line ratios with disparate temperature dependencies. The thermal gradient in metal-rich nebulae can lead to forbidden-line diagnostic ratios that describe electron temperatures far larger than the ion-weighted average values.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Electron temperature variations and the measurement of nebular abundances does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Electron temperature variations and the measurement of nebular abundances, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electron temperature variations and the measurement of nebular abundances will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1733277

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.