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Cambridge University Press eBooks

Overlapping Lines

Peter Joseph Rayer

Published Jun 30, 2020• 0 citations

Abstract

The theory of Baranger is discussed, relating it to the approach taken by Anderson in the last chapter and that taken by Fano in the one to follow. Baranger is concerned to describe pressure broadening in a band of close, overlapping lines. His original concern was with line broadening by fast-moving electrons in a plasma, which allowed him to use the impact approximation, but not to assume that collisions may be associated with classical paths. For this reason, although matter here is in the form of neutral molecules, the use of Baranger’s theory in its most general form requires that collisions be treated in terms of quantum scattering theory. In forming the correlation function, Baranger sets the algebra in a product space where line vectors take the place of the energy states used by Anderson, and the optical cross-section that governs line broadening is replaced by the matrix of an operator in line space, with line widths and shifts on the diagonal and line coupling parameters for the other elements. In the case of isolated lines, Anderson’s theory may be regained, but the introduction of line space paved the way, later on, for a much more general viewpoint.

DOI: 10.1017/9781108768825.006

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The theory of Baranger is discussed, relating it to the approach taken by Anderson in the last chapter and that taken by Fano in the one to follow. Baranger is concerned to describe pressure broadening in a band of close, overlapping lines. His original concern was with line broadening by fast-moving electrons in a plasma, which allowed him to use the impact approximation, but not to assume that collisions may be associated with classical paths. For this reason, although matter here is in the form of neutral molecules, the use of Baranger’s theory in its most general form requires that collisions be treated in terms of quantum scattering theory. In forming the correlation function, Baranger sets the algebra in a product space where line vectors take the place of the energy states used by Anderson, and the optical cross-section that governs line broadening is replaced by the matrix of an operator in line space, with line widths and shifts on the diagonal and line coupling parameters for the other elements. In the case of isolated lines, Anderson’s theory may be regained, but the introduction of line space paved the way, later on, for a much more general viewpoint.

The work of two previous papers is extended and a theory of pressure broadening is developed which treats the perturbers quantum mechanically and allows for inelastic collisions, degeneracy, and overlapping lines. The impact approximation is used. It consists in assuming that it takes, on the average, many collisions to produce an appreciable disturbance in the wave function of the atom, and it results in an isolated line having a Lorentz shape. Validity criteria are given. When the approximation is valid, it is allowable to replace the exact, fluctuating interaction of the perturbers with the atom by a constant effective interaction. The effective interaction is expressed in terms of the one-perturber quantum mechanical transition amplitudes on and near the energy shell and its close relationship to the scattering matrix is stressed. The calculation of the line shape in terms of the effective interaction is the same as when the perturbers move on classical paths. Results are written explicitly for isolated lines. If the interaction of the perturbers with the final state can be neglected, the shift and width are proportional to the real and imaginary part of the forward elastic scattering amplitude, respectively. By the optical theorem, the width can also be written in terms of the total cross section. When the interaction in the final state cannot be neglected, the shift and width are still given in terms of the elastic scattering amplitudes, in a slightly more complicated fashion. Finally, rules are given for taking into account rotational degeneracy of the radiating states.

The Fano theory, described here, does not adopt the impact approximation, and is not confined to the line core. The main concession, implicit in an impact theory like that of Baranger or Anderson, is the neglect of initial correlations between the states of radiator and bath, allowing a separate average to be taken over the bath variables at the initial time. For Fano, the correlation function describes the linear response to the driving field and is governed dynamically by the Liouville operator, which, in Baranger’s line space, has a role similar to that of the Hamiltonian in the original state space. The response, in its Fourier transform, provides the line shape, and this is governed here by a relaxation operator that looks, formally, like a transition operator in quantum scattering. This is a very general theory that will, nevertheless, reduce to that of Baranger as soon as the impact approximation is imposed. Although the neglect of initial correlations will invalidate the fluctuation–dissipation theorem, this will only affect the line far-wing, where, unless remedied, it will cause an imbalance between the radiative processes induced by the field.

The classical-path approximation reduces the problem of pressure broadening of spectral lines to the evaluation of matrix elements of the scattering operator. If the intermolecular potential is long range and the interaction volume is large, the broadening is caused by distant or weak collisions. In this case, the scattering operator can be approximated by a second-order expansion, and the perturber trajectories can be taken to be straight paths. For neutral atoms or molecules, the intermolecular potential is short range and broadening arises from close or "strong" collisions. In this paper it is shown how classical trajectories, determined by a "scalar interaction" (i.e., one that does not depend upon the state of the radiator), can be used to expand the scattering operator in the sum of operators characteristic of the radiator's internal states.