Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie
STEPHEN PHILLIPS hostreviews.co.uk / UNSPLASH

Quantum mechanics and stellar spectroscopy: towards accurate abundance analysis of late-type stars

Paul Barklem , Univ. Uppsala, Sweden

The measurement of stellar properties such as chemical compositions, masses and ages, through stellar spectra, is a fundamental problem in astrophysics, of importance to many fields (e.g. Galactic archeology, chemical evolution, planetary formation, etc.). I discuss progress in the understanding of atomic collision processes relevant to high-accuracy non-LTE analysis of late-type stellar spectra. In particular, to analyse spectra at accuracies approaching the 1% level, quantum mechanical effects such as electron transfer by tunnelling and spin transfer via the exchange interaction should be accounted for in modelling collision processes involving electrons and hydrogen atoms. Similar processes are also important in the relatively young field of non-LTE analysis of spectra of supernova ejecta, showing even larger effects than in stellar atmospheres.

Heidelberg Joint Astronomical Colloquium
24 Oct 2017, 16:15
Philosophenweg 12, großer Hörsaal

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