{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21822"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21822","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Propagation of radiation in astrophysical media: Gravitational lenses and astrophysical masers","abstract":"In Part I the time variability of the radiation emitted by astrophysical masers is studied by numerically solving the system of time dependent non-linear partial differential equations of radiative transfer through a masing gas. The calculations demonstrate for the first time how oscillations, with periods which are comparable to the light travel time through the maser, might develop as a result of radiative instabilities. In addition, we perform a linear stability analysis of the radiative transfer equations and the rate equations for the molecular populations of the masing transition. We use this stability analysis to determine the conditions and parameters for which an astrophysical maser would become unstable. Our results are in agreement with recent observations of astrophysical masers in which fluctuations are found on time scales as short as one thousand seconds.","abstract_html":"In Part I the time variability of the radiation emitted by astrophysical masers is studied by numerically solving the system of time dependent non-linear partial differential equations of radiative transfer through a masing gas. The calculations demonstrate for the first time how oscillations, with periods which are comparable to the light travel time through the maser, might develop as a result of radiative instabilities. In addition, we perform a linear stability analysis of the radiative transfer equations and the rate equations for the molecular populations of the masing transition. We use this stability analysis to determine the conditions and parameters for which an astrophysical maser would become unstable. Our results are in agreement with recent observations of astrophysical masers in which fluctuations are found on time scales as short as one thousand seconds.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Scappaticci, Gerardo Angelo"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Physics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Watson, W.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-07T13:20:12Z","date_published":"2011-05-07T13:20:12Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:18Z","subjects":["Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Copyright 1992 Scappaticci, Gerardo Angelo"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9305679","(UMI)AAI9305679"],"render_values":[{"text":"AAI9305679","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"(UMI)AAI9305679","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21822","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Watson, W.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Scappaticci, Gerardo Angelo"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-05-07T13:20:12Z","10000-01-01","1992"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Physics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 1992 Scappaticci, Gerardo Angelo"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9305679","(UMI)AAI9305679","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21822"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["In Part I the time variability of the radiation emitted by astrophysical masers is studied by numerically solving the system of time dependent non-linear partial differential equations of radiative transfer through a masing gas. The calculations demonstrate for the first time how oscillations, with periods which are comparable to the light travel time through the maser, might develop as a result of radiative instabilities. In addition, we perform a linear stability analysis of the radiative transfer equations and the rate equations for the molecular populations of the masing transition. We use this stability analysis to determine the conditions and parameters for which an astrophysical maser would become unstable. Our results are in agreement with recent observations of astrophysical masers in which fluctuations are found on time scales as short as one thousand seconds.","In Part II statistical methods are applied to analytically calculate the properties of the fluctuations, in intensity and luminosity, of gravitationally lensed images of quasars, due to compact masses lying within the deflecting galaxy. We compute the fluctuations in intensity, and apparent luminosity, of the gravitationally lensed source as measured by quantities such as the standard deviation, autocorrelation function, and power spectrum. We also compare our results with numerical data we received from P. Schneider and A. Weiss, which for the first time directly compares a Monte Carlo type method with a totally analytical calculation.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:20:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9305679.pdf: 4680563 bytes, checksum: 0aca201fe6612956b10a3a9ffcec7c75 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1992","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:53:26Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:24:42-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Propagation of radiation in astrophysical media: Gravitational lenses and astrophysical masers"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Watson, W.D."],"dc:creator":["Scappaticci, Gerardo Angelo"],"dc:date":["2011-05-07T13:20:12Z","10000-01-01","1992"],"dc:description":["In Part I the time variability of the radiation emitted by astrophysical masers is studied by numerically solving the system of time dependent non-linear partial differential equations of radiative transfer through a masing gas. The calculations demonstrate for the first time how oscillations, with periods which are comparable to the light travel time through the maser, might develop as a result of radiative instabilities. In addition, we perform a linear stability analysis of the radiative transfer equations and the rate equations for the molecular populations of the masing transition. We use this stability analysis to determine the conditions and parameters for which an astrophysical maser would become unstable. Our results are in agreement with recent observations of astrophysical masers in which fluctuations are found on time scales as short as one thousand seconds.","In Part II statistical methods are applied to analytically calculate the properties of the fluctuations, in intensity and luminosity, of gravitationally lensed images of quasars, due to compact masses lying within the deflecting galaxy. We compute the fluctuations in intensity, and apparent luminosity, of the gravitationally lensed source as measured by quantities such as the standard deviation, autocorrelation function, and power spectrum. We also compare our results with numerical data we received from P. Schneider and A. Weiss, which for the first time directly compares a Monte Carlo type method with a totally analytical calculation.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:20:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9305679.pdf: 4680563 bytes, checksum: 0aca201fe6612956b10a3a9ffcec7c75 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1992","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:53:26Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:24:42-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"],"dc:identifier":["AAI9305679","(UMI)AAI9305679","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21822"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 1992 Scappaticci, Gerardo Angelo"],"dc:subject":["Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics"],"dc:title":["Propagation of radiation in astrophysical media: Gravitational lenses and astrophysical masers"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Physics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:18Z"}