Modeling the Zeeman Effect in Planetary Atmospheric Radiative Transfer

• Main Author: Larsson, Richard
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Luleå tekniska universitet, Rymdteknik 2014
• Subjects: Aerospace Engineering; Rymd- och flygteknik; Kiruna; Luleå
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-26322

There are special effects in spectroscopy that must be considered in order to fullyexplain how molecular oxygen interacts with radiation in planetary atmospheres.One of these, the Zeeman effect, is described in this thesis. The Zeeman effect is the theory by which energy levels of atoms and molecules are altered by magnetism, and it causes both polarization and line shape to change. The first publication attached to this thesis, Paper I, details the technical and practical implementation of the Zeeman effect in a radiative transfer model. One potential use of magnetically altered spectroscopy is to remotely measure magnetism. Paper II discuss a method for such measurements on weakly magnetized planets by measuring the polarization caused by the Zeeman effect. The article brings up Mars as one potential candidate to utilize the method. To introduce the articles properly, the thesis starts with a shortdescription of the underlying basic theory for radiative transfer and spectroscopy.After the theory chapter, a short description of input necessary to utilize the theory on operational and experimental platforms is presented. Godkänd; 2014; 20140505 (ricric); Nedanstående person kommer att hålla licentiatseminarium för avläggande av teknologie licentiatexamen. Namn: Richard Larsson Ämne: Rymdteknik/Space Technology Uppsats: Modeling the Zeeman Effect in Planetary Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Examinator: Docent Mathias Milz, Institutionen för system- och rymdteknik, Luleå tekniska universitet Diskutant: Dr. Bernd Funke, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Granada, Spanien Tid: Onsdag den 4 juni 2014 kl 10.00 Plats: Sal D1 campus Kiruna, Luleå tekniska universitet