Solving the system of atomic rate equations during recombination

The recombination of hydrogen at z ~ 800 - 1800 induces distortions to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) spectrum. We present a careful calculation and analysis of all of the main transitions occurring during this period in order to find the electron density throughout recombination and its dependence on each process. Our original motivation was to analyze the effects that Thomson scattering and resonance scattering will have on recombination. However, while working on the project, we found that first we had to thoroughly account for all of the atomic transitions. We present a new method for solving the system of equations throughout the period of recombination. This method allows us to show the effect of individual processes on the total ionization fraction.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Scolnic, Daniel (Daniel M.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Edmund Bertschinger.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40913

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40913