arXiv subjects

Mark C. Zammit

Publications and source records attributed to Mark C. Zammit.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A New Approach to Modeling Line Shapes with Quasi-H$_2^+$ Satellites in Stellar Atmospheres

Theoretical spectral line shapes describe the distribution of opacity due to bound electronic transitions in hot dense plasmas and are used to fit emergent spectra from many astrophysical sources. Deficiencies in line broadening theory have been proposed as a possible explanation for unresolved discrepancies between theoretical and observed spectra in white dwarf star atmospheres and laboratory experiments at white dwarf star photosphere conditions. One possible source of these discrepancies is the formation of quasi-molecules. Quasi-molecules are close (unbound) collisions between atoms, which broaden line shapes and create additional satellite lines. Quasi-molecules are challenging to implement into traditional line shape codes and have historically required a number of physical approximations beyond what is used in standard Stark broadening models. Here we present a new approach to calculating line shapes with quasi-molecular resonances, using a novel multiple-basis method that considers both atomic and molecular states. We implement this approach into a simulation line shape code, present hydrogen Lyman-series line shapes with quasi-H$_2^+$ resonances, and demonstrate the impact our new line shapes have on hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarf star model spectra. We find that our new approach leads to broader quasi-molecular features that agree well with observed spectra in initial comparisons.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Excitation of molecular hydrogen by cosmic-ray protons

Low-energy cosmic rays ($E\lesssim 1$ GeV) are responsible for the ionisation and heating of molecular clouds. While the role of supra-thermal electrons produced in the ionisation process in inducing excitation of the ambient gas (mostly molecular hydrogen) has been studied in detail, the role of primary cosmic-ray nuclei (protons and heavier nuclei) has been generally neglected. Here, we introduce, for the first time, cross sections for proton impact on H$_2$, calculated using the semi-classical implementation of the molecular convergent close-coupling method. Our findings show that proton-induced H$_2$ excitation is comparable in magnitude to that caused by electrons. We discuss the possible implications on the estimate of the cosmic-ray ionisation rate from observations in the near-infrared domain and on the cosmic-ray-induced H$_2$ ultraviolet luminescence. We also derive a new approximated analytical parameterisation of the spectrum of secondary electrons that can be easily incorporated in numerical codes.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Experimental Validation of Collision-Radiation Dataset for Molecular Hydrogen in Plasmas

Quantitative spectroscopy of molecular hydrogen has generated substantial demand, leading to the accumulation of diverse elementary-process data encompassing radiative transitions, electron-impact transitions, predissociations, and quenching. However, their rates currently available are still sparse and there are inconsistencies among those proposed by different authors. In this study, we demonstrate an experimental validation of such molecular dataset by composing a collisional-radiative model (CRM) for molecular hydrogen and comparing experimentally-obtained vibronic populations across multiple levels. From the population kinetics of molecular hydrogen, the importance of each elementary process in various parameter space is studied. In low-density plasmas (electron density $n_\mathrm{e} \lesssim 10^{17}\;\mathrm{m^{-3}}$) the excitation rates from the ground states and radiative decay rates, both of which have been reported previously, determines the excited state population. The inconsistency in the excitation rates affects the population distribution the most significantly in this parameter space. On the other hand, in higher density plasmas ($n_\mathrm{e} \gtrsim 10^{18}\;\mathrm{m^{-3}}$), the excitation rates \textit{from} excited states become important, which have never been reported in the literature, and may need to be approximated in some way. In order to validate these molecular datasets and approximated rates, we carried out experimental observations for two different hydrogen plasmas; a low-density radio-frequency (RF) heated plasma ($n_\mathrm{e}\approx 10^{16}\;\mathrm{m^{-3}}$) and the Large Helical Device (LHD) divertor plasma ($n_\mathrm{e}\gtrsim 10^{18}\;\mathrm{m^{-3}}$)... [continued]

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Ultraviolet H$_2$ luminescence in molecular clouds induced by cosmic rays

Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) play a crucial role in ionisation, dissociation, and excitation processes within dense cloud regions where UV radiation is absorbed by dust grains and gas species. CRs regulate the abundance of ions and radicals, leading to the formation of more and more complex molecular species, and determine the charge distribution on dust grains. A quantitative analysis of these effects is essential for understanding the dynamical and chemical evolution of star-forming regions. The CR-induced photon flux has a significant impact on the evolution of the dense molecular medium in its gas and dust components. This study is intended to evaluate the flux of UV photons generated by CRs to calculate the photon-induced dissociation and ionisation rates of a vast number of atomic and molecular species, as well as the integrated UV photon flux. Our study takes advantage of recent developments in the determination of the spectra of secondary electrons, in the calculation of state-resolved excitation cross sections of H$_2$ by electron impact, and of photodissociation and photoionisation cross sections. We calculate the H$_2$ level population of each rovibrational level of the $X$, $B$, $C$, $B'$, $D$, $B''$, $D'$ and $a$ states. We then compute the UV photon spectrum of H$_2$ in its line and continuum components between 72 and 700 nm, with unprecedented accuracy as a function of the CR spectrum incident on a molecular cloud, the H$_2$ column density, the isomeric H$_2$ composition, and the dust properties. The resulting photodissociation and photoionisation rates are, on average, smaller than previous determinations by a factor of about 2, with deviations up to a factor of 5. A special focus is given to the photoionisation rates of H$_2$, HF, and H$_2$, as well as to the photodissociation of H$_2$, which we find to be orders of magnitude higher than previous estimates.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

ThunderBoltz: An Open-Source DSMC-based Boltzmann Solver for Plasma Transport, Chemical Kinetics, and 0D Plasma Modeling

Plasma-neutral interactions, including reactive kinetics, are often either studied in 0D using ODE based descriptions, or in multi-dimensional fluid or particle based plasma codes. The latter case involves a complex assembly of procedures that are not always necessary to test effects of underlying physical models and mechanisms for particle-based descriptions. Here we present ThunderBoltz, a lightweight, publicly available 0D Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code designed to accommodate a generalized combination of species and arbitrary cross sections without the overhead of expensive field solves. It can efficiently produce high-quality electron, ion, and neutral velocity distributions in applied AC/DC $E$-field and static $B$-field scenarios. The code is built in the C++ standard library and includes a convenient Python interface that allows for input file generation (including compatibility with cross section data from the LXCat database), electron transport and reaction rate constant post-processing, input parameter constraint satisfaction, calculation scheduling, and diagnostic plotting. In this work we compare ThunderBoltz transport calculations against Bolsig+ calculations, benchmark test problems, and swarm experiment data, finding good agreement with all three in the appropriate field regimes. In addition to this, we present example use cases where the electron, ion, and background neutral particle species are self consistently evolved providing an ability to model the background kinetics, a feature that is absent in fixed background Monte Carlo and n-term Boltzmann solvers. The latter functionality allows for the possibility of particle-based chemical kinetics simulations of the plasma and neutral species and is a new alternative to ODE based approaches.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Photoionization from the ground and excited vibrational states of H+2 and its deuterated isotopologues

Photoionization cross sections and rate coefficients have been calculated for all bound vibrational levels of the 1s$σ_{\mathrm{g}}$ state of H$_{2}^{+}$, HD$^{+}$, and D$_{2}^{+}$. The Born-Oppenheimer approximation is employed in our calculation of vibrationally-resolved photoionization cross sections. Vibrationally-resolved and local thermal equilibrium photoionization rate coefficients are presented for photon temperatures less than $50\,000$ K and are found to be several orders of magnitude larger than previous results in the literature. Analytic fits for the vibrationally-resolved and local thermal equilibrium photoionization rate coefficients are provided. Near threshold oscillations in the vibrationall-resolved photoionization are observed. A benchmark set of photoionization cross sections are presented. Fixed-nuclei photoionization cross sections are calculated using two-center true continuum wave functions and are verified by comparison with previous calculations and are found to be in excellent agreement in all cases. Data files for our set of benchmark cross sections, rate coefficients, and fitting parameters for H$_{2}^{+}$, HD$^{+}$, and D$_{2}^{+}$ are available on Zenodo under an open-source Creative Commons Attribution license: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8304060 .

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

Cosmic rays in molecular clouds probed by H$_{2}$ rovibrational lines -- Perspectives for the James Webb Space Telescope

Cosmic rays (CRs) at sub-TeV energies play a fundamental role in the chemical and dynamical evolution of molecular clouds, as they control the ionisation, dissociation, and excitation of H$_{2}$. Their characterisation is important both for the interpretation of observations and for the development of theoretical models. The methods used so far for estimating the CR ionisation rate ($ζ$) in molecular clouds have several limitations due to uncertainties in the adopted chemical networks. We refine and extend the method proposed by Bialy (2020) to estimate $ζ$ by observing rovibrational transitions of H$_{2}$ at near-infrared wavelengths, which are mainly excited by secondary CR electrons. Combining models of interstellar CR propagation and attenuation with the calculation of the expected secondary electron spectrum and updated H$_{2}$ excitation cross sections by electron collisions, we derive the intensity of the four H$_{2}$ rovibrational transitions observable in dense, cold gas: (1-0)O(2), (1-0)Q(2), (1-0)S(0), and (1-0)O(4). The proposed method allows the estimation of $ζ$ for a given observed line intensity and H$_{2}$ column density. We are also able to deduce the shape of the low-energy CR proton spectrum impinging upon the molecular cloud. We present a look-up plot and a web-based application that can be used to constrain the low-energy spectral slope of the interstellar CR proton spectrum. We comment on the capability of the James Webb Space Telescope to detect these near-infrared H$_{2}$ lines, making it possible to derive for the first time spatial variation of $ζ$ in dense gas. Besides the implications for the interpretation of the chemical-dynamic evolution of a molecular cloud, it will be possible to test competing models of CR propagation and attenuation in the interstellar medium, as well as compare CR spectra in different Galactic regions.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Isotopic and vibrational-level dependence of H$_2$ dissociation by electron impact

The low-energy electron-impact dissociation of molecular hydrogen has been a source of disagreement between various calculations and measurements for decades. Excitation of the ground state of H$_2$ into the dissociative $b ^3Σ_u^+$ state is now well understood, with the most recent measurements being in excellent agreement with the molecular convergent close-coupling (MCCC) calculations of both integral and differential cross sections (2018 Phys. Rev. A 98 062704). However, in the absence of similar measurements for vibrationally-excited or isotopically-substituted H$_2$, cross sections for dissociation of these species must be determined by theory alone. We have identified large discrepancies between MCCC calculations and the recommended $R$-matrix cross sections for dissociation of vibrationally-excited H$_2$, D$_2$, T$_2$, HD, HT, and DT (2002 Plasma Phys. Contr. F. 44 1263-1276,2217-2230), with disagreement in both the isotope effect and dependence on initial vibrational level. Here we investigate the source of the discrepancies, and discuss the consequences for plasma models which have incorporated the previously recommended data.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Impact of a minority relativistic electron tail interacting with a thermal plasma containing high-atomic-number impurities

A minority relativistic electron component can arise in both laboratory and naturally-occurring plasmas. In the presence of high-atomic-number ion species, the ion charge state distribution at low bulk electron temperature can be dominated by relativistic electrons, even though their density is orders of magnitude lower. This is due to the relativistic enhancement of the collisional excitation and ionization cross sections. The resulting charge state effect can dramatically impact the radiative power loss rate and the related Bethe stopping power of relativistic electrons in a dilute plasma.

physics.plasm-ph↗