Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1998-11-19
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Latex, 7 pages, 4 figures. To be published in the Proceedings of the 2nd Guillermo Haro Conference on Interstellar Turbulence
Scientific paper
The nature of turbulence in the warm ionized component of the interstellar medium (WIM) can be investigated using Fabry-Perot spectroscopy of optical emission lines. The H-alpha intensity provides the emission measure (EM) along a line of sight, which is used in conjunction with the scattering measure, rotation measure, and dispersion measure to study interstellar turbulence. Observations at high spectral resolution (10 km/s) allow measurements of the bulk radial velocity structure of the emitting gas and investigations of thermal and non-thermal (turbulent) broadening mechanisms through the line widths. By measuring the widths of the H-alpha line and an emission line from a heavier atom (e.g. the [S II] 6716 line), one can separate the thermal and non-thermal contributions to the line width. Preliminary studies using this method have shown that the broad range of H-alpha line widths (typically 15 - 50 km/s) is mostly due to differences in the non-thermal component of the width and that along many lines of sight this component dominates. The Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) is in the process of producing a very sensitive kinematic map of the northern sky in H-alpha at one degree angular resolution and 12 km/s spectral resolution. WHAM is also mapping emission lines from heavier atoms such as sulfur and nitrogen for selected regions of the sky. This data set will provide unique new information concerning turbulence in the WIM.
Haffner Matthew L.
Reynolds Ron J.
Tufte Stephen Louis
No associations
LandOfFree
Probing Interstellar Turbulence in the Warm Ionized Medium using Emission Lines 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 Probing Interstellar Turbulence in the Warm Ionized Medium using Emission Lines, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Probing Interstellar Turbulence in the Warm Ionized Medium using Emission Lines will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-481377