Abstract
Emission and absorption lines in plasmas are investigated theoretically using a phase space formulation of quantum electrodynamics. A transport equation for the one-photon Wigner function is derived and formulated in terms of the noncommutative Moyal product. This equation reduces to the standard radiative transfer equation at the large spectral band limit, when the characteristic spectral band of the emission and absorption coefficients is larger than the inverse photon absorption length and time. We examine deviations to this limit. An ideal slab geometry is considered. The Wigner function relative to hydrogen Lyman α in stellar atmospheric conditions is calculated.
Graphical abstract
Similar content being viewed by others
References
G.C. Pomraning, The Equations of Radiation Hydrodynamics (Pergamon, Oxford, 1973)
D. Mihalas, Stellar Atmospheres (Freeman, San Francisco, 1978)
J. Oxenius, Kinetic Theory of Particles and Photons – Theoretical Foundations of Non-LTE Plasma Spectroscopy (Springer, Berlin, 1986)
J.E. Bailey, G.A. Rochau, R.C. Mancini, C.A. Iglesias, J.J. MacFarlane, I.E. Golovkin, C. Blancard, Ph. Cosse, G. Faussurier, Phys. Plasmas 16, 058101 (2009)
D. Reiter, S. Wiesen, M. Born, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 44, 1723 (2002)
G.G. Lister, J.E. Lawler, W.P. Lapatovich, V.A. Godyak, Rev. Mod. Phys. 76, 541 (2004)
P.W. Milonni, J.H. Eberly, Lasers (Wiley Interscience, New York, 1988)
L.V. Wang, H.I Wu, Biomedical Optics – Principles and Imaging (Wiley Interscience, Hoboken, 2007)
A. Mandelis, C. Feng, Phys. Rev. E 65, 021909 (2002)
M. Born, E. Wolf, Principles of Optics: Electromagnetic Theory of Propagation, Interference and Diffraction of Light (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1964)
J. Rosato, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 205001 (2011)
J. Rosato, Transport Theor. Stat. Phys. 41, 214 (2012)
J. Rosato, Phys. Rev. E 87, 043108 (2013)
J. Rosato, Phys. Lett. A 378, 2586 (2014)
J. Rosato, Phys. Rev. E 91, 053103 (2015)
J. Rosato, J. Astrophys. Astronom. 36, 605 (2015)
W.E. Brittin, W.R. Chappell, Rev. Mod. Phys. 34, 620 (1962)
K. Imre, E. Ozizmir, M. Rosenbaum, P. Zweifel, J. Math. Phys. 8, 1097 (1967)
R. Balescu, Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1975)
L. Allen, J.H. Eberly, Optical Resonance and Two-Level Atoms (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1975)
B.W. Shore, The Theory of Coherent Atomic Excitation (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1990)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Contribution to the Topical Issue “Physics of Ionized Gases (SPIG 2016)”, edited by Goran Poparic, Bratislav Obradovic, Dragana Maric and Aleksandar Milosavljevic.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rosato, J. A quantum transport model for atomic line radiation in plasmas*. Eur. Phys. J. D 71, 28 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2016-70651-1
Received:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2016-70651-1