QSO Absorption Lines Studies: Ultraviolet and Optical Spectroscopy Chris Churchill Assistant Professor of Astronomy A TEXT BOOK ON QUASAR RESEARCH FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS The book is scheduled to be delivered to Cambridge University Press in the Summer of 2007 (though I will be late again) and will be part of its Cambridge Astrophysic Series. All material Copywrite (C) Christopher W. Churchill (2007). Preliminary Message to the Reader Due the lack of an up-to-date reference book on the subject of ultraviolet and optical quasar absorption lines, I have undertaken the task of writing one. The notes are derived from my lectures and research experience, and are targeted toward researchers of astronomy and astrophsyics. This book is in draft form (though some parts are pretty much finalized). I continue to get requests from various colleagues who want to use parts of the book for their grad classes... so I have made a few of the more developed chapters publicly available in the hope that they may be useful for individuals interested in the analysis of quasar spectra. Caveats apply to the incomplete nature of some of the sections (often the text contains statements addressing incompleteness when it applies). If you are not a student in my classes, or are not a colleague who has requested use of the text for your classes, and you wish to download some of the material for personal use, I would highly appreciate being informed so I can track usage. Even more, I would highly appreciate any comments, especially errata or suggestions for additional useful content. Available Chapters Click on [PDF] links to download. I have only included the sections, and not the subsections in the below contents lists. Chaper 1: Introduction Give me a break... this gets written last! Chaper 2: The Cosmography [ PDF ] pp. 7-54 2.1 The Metric 2.2 Relativistic Dynamics 2.3 Parameterized Cosmology 2.4 Hnot and the Three Omega's 2.5 Scale Factor and Redshift 2.6 Dynamics and Redshift 2.7 Time and Redshift 2.8 Distance and Redshift 2.9 Velocity and Redshift 2.10 Volume and Redshift 2.11 Probability of Line of Sight Intersection 2.12 Luminosity and Surface Brightness Chaper 3: Data and Parameter Estimation [ PDF ] pp. 55-94 3.1 Statistical Descriptors of Data 3.2 Common Distribution Functions 3.3 Confidence Intervals and Levels 3.4 Statistical Tests 3.5 The Sensitivity Function 3.6 Parameterized Distribution Functions 3.7 Maximum Likelihood Method 3.8 Chi-Square Minimization Chaper 4: Chemical Elements and Atomic Structure [Provided Upon Request] Chaper 5: Gas Physics and Ionization Processes [Provided Upon Request] Chaper 6: Radiative Transfer and Line Formation [ PDF ] pp. 129-144 (may get restructured) 6.1 Column Density 6.2 Optical Depth 6.3 Natural Broadening 6.4 Thermal Broadening 6.5 The Voigt Profile 6.6 The Doppler Parameter Chaper 7: Absorption Spectral Features [ PDF ] pp. 145-154 (NOT COMPLETED) 7.1 Ionization 7.2 Common Absorption Lines 7.3 Equivalent Widths (Curve of Growth) 7.4 Rest-frame Equivalent Widths Chaper 8: Spectrographs [ PDF ] pp. 155-174 8.1 The Spectrograph 8.2 Diffraction Gratings 8.3 Low Order Spectrographs 8.4 Echelle Spectrographs 8.5 Monochromatic Resolving Power 8.6 Spectral Purity 8.7 Instrumental Spread Function (ISF) 8.8 ISF Convolution 8.9 Pixelization Chaper 9: Spectroscopic Data [ PDF ] pp. 175-206 9.1 Low versus High Resolution 9.2 Charged Couple Devices 9.3. Reducing the Data Suite 9.4 Extracting the Spectrum 9.5 Wavelength Zero Point 9.6 Flux Calibration 9.7 Continuum Fitting 9.8 Combining Spectra 9.9 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SN) 9.10 Exposure Times and SN 9.11 Magnitudes 9.12 The K-Correction Chaper 10: Analysis of Quasar Spectra [ PDF ] pp 207-227 (NOT COMPLETED) 10.1 Objective Feature Finding 10.2 Equivalent Width Limits 10.3 Gaussian Profile Fitting 10.4 Identifying Absorption Systems Chaper 11: Analysis of High Resolution Spectra [Provided Upon Request] Chaper 12: Statistical Analysis of Absorbers [ PDF ] pp. 249-270 12.1 Surveys 12.2 Redshift Path Sensitivity Function 12.3 Redshift Number Density 12.4 Sizes of Absorbers 12.5 Equivalent Width Distribution 12.6 Two-Point Velocity Clustering 12.7 Mean Gas Density Chaper 13: The Intergalactic Medium and Galaxy Halos [Provided Upon Request] - still need to write the Galaxy Halos part. Chaper 14: Modeling Absorbers [ PDF ] p. 277-286 (NOT COMPLETED) 14.1 Photoionization Modeling 14.2 Collisional Ionization Modeling (to be written)