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Modelling radiative transfer in high-energy astrophysical plasmas

Modelling radiative transfer in high-energy astrophysical plasmas
Modelling radiative transfer in high-energy astrophysical plasmas

In this thesis I describe the development of a three-dimensional radiative transfer model that is capable of explaining observations of time-dependent broadband spectra of high-energy astrophysical objects, such as X-ray binaries and microquasars, across the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma-rays.  Physical processes included in the model are synchrotron radiation, Compton scattering, bremsstrahlung radiation, Coulomb scattering and the time-dependent evolution of the emitting electron population’s transrelativistic energy distribution.  The model can recreate the geometry of any emitting region, making it simple to apply to any astrophysical object.  To that effect an initial attempt has been made at applying the code to model the accretion disc coronae of Galactic X-ray binaries for the purpose of explaining the cause of spectral state transitions.  This these concludes with a section detailing  a preliminary study into the potential application of the model to another problem in high-energy astrophysics - that of the time-dependent emission from relativistic jets.

University of Southampton
Collins, Ross Stefan
e3c8dacd-6125-47fa-a88d-1026258b0de7
Collins, Ross Stefan
e3c8dacd-6125-47fa-a88d-1026258b0de7

Collins, Ross Stefan (2005) Modelling radiative transfer in high-energy astrophysical plasmas. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

In this thesis I describe the development of a three-dimensional radiative transfer model that is capable of explaining observations of time-dependent broadband spectra of high-energy astrophysical objects, such as X-ray binaries and microquasars, across the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma-rays.  Physical processes included in the model are synchrotron radiation, Compton scattering, bremsstrahlung radiation, Coulomb scattering and the time-dependent evolution of the emitting electron population’s transrelativistic energy distribution.  The model can recreate the geometry of any emitting region, making it simple to apply to any astrophysical object.  To that effect an initial attempt has been made at applying the code to model the accretion disc coronae of Galactic X-ray binaries for the purpose of explaining the cause of spectral state transitions.  This these concludes with a section detailing  a preliminary study into the potential application of the model to another problem in high-energy astrophysics - that of the time-dependent emission from relativistic jets.

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Published date: 2005

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Local EPrints ID: 465628
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/465628
PURE UUID: 17d40906-b17a-4481-996e-295b9631d193

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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 02:10
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:17

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Author: Ross Stefan Collins

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