Laboratory Astrophysics: Spectral Analysis of Photoionized Neon
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2011
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Physics & Astronomy
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Thesis (B.A.)
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en_US
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Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
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Abstract
A curve of growth analysis was applied to photoionized neon absorption spectra from gas cell
experiments at Sandia National Laboratory's Z facility. The gas cell experiments, designed to photoionize
neon up to helium and hydrogen-like species, produce a photoionized plasma comparable
to astrophysical plasmas measured in high mass X-ray binaries or Seyfert 2 galaxies. A proper
characterization of the photoionized plasma in the gas cell can be used to benchmark photoionization
codes like Cloudy and XSTAR used by the astrophysics community. The curve of growth
analysis of absorption spectra from neon was applied to calculate the charge state distribution of
the neon. The analysis, performed using a Voigt line-profile with the 182 ~ 18np line series on
Ne IX, shows that additional line broadening mechanisms are present. A preliminary analysis of
additional line broadening from the Stark effect was also performed.