<hr />
<h2> Terminology </h2>
<p>The terminology of thermal and non-thermal emission is somewhat unfortunate. Formally, <strong>non-thermal</strong> emission is continuum radiation from particles with non-Maxwellian energy spectra. Practically, we generally consider it to be emission which is not described by Bremsstrahlung or black body radiation (<a href="https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Volker.Beckmann/school/download/Longair_Radiation2.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">source</a>).<sup>1</sup> Note that this is true for the entire electromagnetic spectrum, not just the radio region.</p>
<p><strong>Synchrotron emission</strong> is a form of non-thermal emission which occurs when particles are accelerated perpendicular to their translational motion, specifically when the particles are relativistic (otherwise it is called cyclotron emission).</p>
<p><strong>Self-absorbed synchrotron emission</strong> is described well in the introduction of <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1204.1386.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this paper</a>, and occurs when the synchrotron emission becomes a non-negligible source of heating. It occurs only when the self-absorption frequency is larger than the cooling frequency, i.e.</p>
<p><span class="math-container">$$
\nu_{c} &lt; \nu_{a}
$$</span></p>
<p>The <strong>spectral index</strong>, <span class="math-container">$\alpha$</span>, describes the dependence of the radiative flux density on the frequency of the emission. With frequency <span class="math-container">$\nu$</span> and radiative flux density <span class="math-container">$S_{\nu}$</span>,</p>
<p><span class="math-container">$$
S_{\nu} \propto \nu^{\alpha}
$$</span></p>
<p>An <strong>inverted spectrum</strong> results from <span class="math-container">$0 &lt; \alpha &lt; 2.5$</span>,<sup>2</sup> and this is <em>generally</em> indicative of thermal emission. However, the observed emission can be depressed by absorption processes, so a positive spectral index (i.e. an inverted spectrum) is not robustly indicative of thermal emission on its own.</p>
<hr />
<h2> Radio Astronomy </h2>
<p>Most radio astronomy uses radio interferometry instead of direct observation, there are a number of reasons for this: most emitters are very weak in the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, radio telescopes for direct imaging have to be <strong>much</strong> larger than their shorter-wavelength counterparts, and radio interferometry allows the highest angular resolution of any technique (it is possible to create a radio interferometery array the size of the Earth, which <a href="https://eventhorizontelescope.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">we have done</a>).</p>
<p>That being said, there are a number of phenomena and objects whose activity in the radio region lends them to direct imaging:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Masers</strong> - stimulated spectral line emission, usually in the range of <span class="math-container">$3$</span>mm to <span class="math-container">$0.3$</span>m. This phenomena can occur in the <a href="https://www.atnf.csiro.au/news/newsletter/jun03/3and12mm_masers.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">atmospheres of gas giants</a>, the <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0510452" rel="nofollow noreferrer">expanded fuel sheath of late-type stars</a>, <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0505148" rel="nofollow noreferrer">protosolar disks and nebulae</a>, <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002Sci...296.2350W/abstract" rel="nofollow noreferrer">supernovae remnants</a>, and <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005ARA%26A..43..625L/abstract" rel="nofollow noreferrer">black holes</a>. The produced spectrum is characterized by high brightness, extraordinarily high black-body temperature equivalent typically on the magnitude of <span class="math-container">$10^9$</span> K, but as high as <span class="math-container">$10^{14}$</span> K, and very high polarization that is predominantly circular. A spectra which contains a <strong>sharp</strong> peak that would correspond to a black-body temperature above <span class="math-container">$10^9$</span> K would likely be the product of a maser.</p>
</li>
<li><p><strong>Quasars</strong> - The supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies sometimes have accretion disks or clouds which produce immensely luminous emissions as the material falls into the black hole. The sheer scale of the energy involved (often orders of magnitude larger than the total output of the rest of the galaxy) leads to a <a href="https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1996/news-1996-35.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">relatively uniform emission</a> across much of the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to far infrared.</p>
</li>
<li><p><strong>Pulsars</strong> - The mechanisms for emission here are poorly understood, but in the formation of a neutron star (or even a <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.03185" rel="nofollow noreferrer">white dwarf occasionally</a>), the conservation of angular momentum results in a <em>very</em> rapid rotation. A strong magnetic field causes protons and electrons to accelerate on the star's surface which produces cyclotron and synchrotron emission. The emission exits the pulsar in a beam.</p>
</li>
<li><p><strong>Radio galaxies</strong> - Active galaxy nuclei which are exceptionally luminous in the <span class="math-container">$30$</span> m - <span class="math-container">$300$</span> km region. The radio emission in these nuclei is generated by synchrotron action characterized by a smooth, broad-band radio spectra with strong polarization.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><sup>1</sup> Not a published source, but does a pretty good job of explaining this in the introduction.</p>
<p><sup>2</sup> <span class="math-container">$2.5$</span> is the <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1407.4255.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">rough upper limit</a> for <span class="math-container">$\alpha$</span> in the power law description.</p>
<hr />

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-15T03:33:30.570Z
1 as long as α is positive, the spectrum is an inverted spectrum, right? 2 The difference of radio spectra is just spectral index? How to tell a radio spectrum is synchrotron emission?
questionhang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-15T03:40:33.493Z
@questionhang 1 - Yes, positive spectral index means an inverted spectrum and *usually* that indicates thermal emission is dominating. 2 - No, the only difference is **not** spectral index, the spectra generated by different kinds of emission will vary. As to the question of how to tell if a spectrum is due to synchrotron emission, the answer to that is too long for the comments. I will add it to my answer when I get a chance
William Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-15T04:38:20.187Z
My purpose is to have a sense about radio spectrum. Which celestial objects correspond to which kind of radio spectrum? What do these spectra look like(radiation mechanism, spectral index, etc.). Synchrotron is just one example.
questionhang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T04:17:38.743Z
@questionhang I have expanded my answer in an attempt to address your comments
William Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T04:48:38.833Z
OK. How to identify a synchrotron emission suppose we have radio interferometry data?
questionhang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T04:54:25.640Z
@questionhang Synchrotron emission is characterized by a smooth, broad spectral peak in the radio region, as I said in the last sentence of the bullet point regarding radio galaxies.
William Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T06:35:25.597Z
Usually its identification is clear or tricky? A flat spectrum between 5-10GHz is synchrotron emission?
questionhang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T06:37:40.907Z
@questionhang Without seeing the full spectra I can't tell you if synchrotron emission is a significant source of radiation. Do you have a specific spectra that you are trying to classify?
William Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T08:44:36.093Z
I do have one. If 2.2mJy/beam@5GHz and 1.7mJy/beam@9GHz, is it synchrotron? But it is better to know HOW to identify it.
questionhang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T08:48:35.010Z
@questionhang That is not enough spectral information to determine conclusively whether the source is synchrotron emission. I have described in my answer the primary objects and phenomena which produce emissions in the radio region. Without seeing a complete spectra (or at the very least **more** of a spectra) there is no way to determine the source of the emission.
William Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T09:46:01.160Z
The bounty is done. But I still do not know how to identify different radio spectrum. Which information do you need? More data points?
questionhang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T09:48:44.873Z
@questionhang Yes, preferably an entire spectra with a reasonable (log-scale linearity would suffice) sampling granularity. But at the very least a full radio spectra.
William Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T13:54:34.037Z
@questionhang If you want to know how to determine if a spectrum contains synchrotron emissions, you should ask a fresh question. If you want help with a specific spectrum, you can include it (with all the relevant & necessary data) as an example in your new question. That way, it may be helpful for future readers, not just yourself.
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-14T02:05:04.157Z
2020-08-23T23:40:08.887Z
2020-08-23T23:40:08.887Z
William Miller
<p>For a radio spectrum, when is it called thermal emission, synchrotron emission, self-absorbed synchrotron emission and inverted spectrum? They are all power-law and their difference is power-law index?</p>
<p>For a power-law <span class="math-container">$\nu^{\alpha}$</span>, as long as <span class="math-container">$\alpha$</span> is positive, the spectrum is an inverted spectrum, right?</p>
<p>Please recommend reference books which introduce these models and their corresponding astrophysical phenomena.</p>

<radio-astronomy><spectra><terminology><synchrotron-radiation>
Clarification of radio spectrum terminology
questionhang
# Clarification of radio spectrum terminology

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-27)

For a radio spectrum, when is it called thermal emission, synchrotron emission, self-absorbed synchrotron emission and inverted spectrum? They are all power-law and their difference is power-law index?

For a power-law $\nu^{\alpha}$, as long as $\alpha$ is positive, the spectrum is an inverted spectrum, right?

Please recommend reference books which introduce these models and their corresponding astrophysical phenomena.

**Tags:** radio-astronomy, spectra, terminology, synchrotron-radiation


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-08-14. Score: 8

---

## Terminology

The terminology of thermal and non-thermal emission is somewhat unfortunate. Formally, **non-thermal** emission is continuum radiation from particles with non-Maxwellian energy spectra. Practically, we generally consider it to be emission which is not described by Bremsstrahlung or black body radiation ([source](https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Volker.Beckmann/school/download/Longair_Radiation2.pdf)).1 Note that this is true for the entire electromagnetic spectrum, not just the radio region.

**Synchrotron emission** is a form of non-thermal emission which occurs when particles are accelerated perpendicular to their translational motion, specifically when the particles are relativistic (otherwise it is called cyclotron emission).

**Self-absorbed synchrotron emission** is described well in the introduction of [this paper](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1204.1386.pdf), and occurs when the synchrotron emission becomes a non-negligible source of heating. It occurs only when the self-absorption frequency is larger than the cooling frequency, i.e.

$$
\nu\_{c} < \nu\_{a}
$$

The **spectral index**, $\alpha$, describes the dependence of the radiative flux density on the frequency of the emission. With frequency $\nu$ and radiative flux density $S\_{\nu}$,

$$
S\_{\nu} \propto \nu^{\alpha}
$$

An **inverted spectrum** results from $0 < \alpha < 2.5$,2 and this is *generally* indicative of thermal emission. However, the observed emission can be depressed by absorption processes, so a positive spectral index (i.e. an inverted spectrum) is not robustly indicative of thermal emission on its own.

---

## Radio Astronomy

Most radio astronomy uses radio interferometry instead of direct observation, there are a number of reasons for this: most emitters are very weak in the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, radio telescopes for direct imaging have to be **much** larger than their shorter-wavelength counterparts, and radio interferometry allows the highest angular resolution of any technique (it is possible to create a radio interferometery array the size of the Earth, which [we have done](https://eventhorizontelescope.org/)).

That being said, there are a number of phenomena and objects whose activity in the radio region lends them to direct imaging:

* **Masers** - stimulated spectral line emission, usually in the range of $3$mm to $0.3$m. This phenomena can occur in the [atmospheres of gas giants](https://www.atnf.csiro.au/news/newsletter/jun03/3and12mm_masers.htm), the [expanded fuel sheath of late-type stars](https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0510452), [protosolar disks and nebulae](https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0505148), [supernovae remnants](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002Sci...296.2350W/abstract), and [black holes](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005ARA%26A..43..625L/abstract). The produced spectrum is characterized by high brightness, extraordinarily high black-body temperature equivalent typically on the magnitude of $10^9$ K, but as high as $10^{14}$ K, and very high polarization that is predominantly circular. A spectra which contains a **sharp** peak that would correspond to a black-body temperature above $10^9$ K would likely be the product of a maser.
* **Quasars** - The supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies sometimes have accretion disks or clouds which produce immensely luminous emissions as the material falls into the black hole. The sheer scale of the energy involved (often orders of magnitude larger than the total output of the rest of the galaxy) leads to a [relatively uniform emission](https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1996/news-1996-35.html) across much of the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to far infrared.
* **Pulsars** - The mechanisms for emission here are poorly understood, but in the formation of a neutron star (or even a [white dwarf occasionally](https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.03185)), the conservation of angular momentum results in a *very* rapid rotation. A strong magnetic field causes protons and electrons to accelerate on the star's surface which produces cyclotron and synchrotron emission. The emission exits the pulsar in a beam.
* **Radio galaxies** - Active galaxy nuclei which are exceptionally luminous in the $30$ m - $300$ km region. The radio emission in these nuclei is generated by synchrotron action characterized by a smooth, broad-band radio spectra with strong polarization.

---

1 Not a published source, but does a pretty good job of explaining this in the introduction.

2 $2.5$ is the [rough upper limit](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1407.4255.pdf) for $\alpha$ in the power law description.

---

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: 1 as long as α is positive, the spectrum is an inverted spectrum, right? 2 The difference of radio spectra is just spectral index? How to tell a radio spectrum is synchrotron emission?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 1 - Yes, positive spectral index means an inverted spectrum and *usually* that indicates thermal emission is dominating. 2 - No, the only difference is **not** spectral index, the spectra generated by different kinds of emission will vary. As to the question of how to tell if a spectrum is due to synchrotron emission, the answer to that is too long for the comments. I will add it to my answer when I get a chance  
> **username_0**: My purpose is to have a sense about radio spectrum. Which celestial objects correspond to which kind of radio spectrum? What do these spectra look like(radiation mechanism, spectral index, etc.). Synchrotron is just one example.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 I have expanded my answer in an attempt to address your comments  
> **username_0**: OK. How to identify a synchrotron emission suppose we have radio interferometry data?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Synchrotron emission is characterized by a smooth, broad spectral peak in the radio region, as I said in the last sentence of the bullet point regarding radio galaxies.  
> **username_0**: Usually its identification is clear or tricky? A flat spectrum between 5-10GHz is synchrotron emission?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Without seeing the full spectra I can't tell you if synchrotron emission is a significant source of radiation. Do you have a specific spectra that you are trying to classify?  
> **username_0**: I do have one. If 2.2mJy/beam@5GHz and 1.7mJy/beam@9GHz, is it synchrotron? But it is better to know HOW to identify it.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 That is not enough spectral information to determine conclusively whether the source is synchrotron emission. I have described in my answer the primary objects and phenomena which produce emissions in the radio region. Without seeing a complete spectra (or at the very least **more** of a spectra) there is no way to determine the source of the emission.  
> **username_0**: The bounty is done. But I still do not know how to identify different radio spectrum. Which information do you need? More data points?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Yes, preferably an entire spectra with a reasonable (log-scale linearity would suffice) sampling granularity. But at the very least a full radio spectra.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 If you want to know how to determine if a spectrum contains synchrotron emissions, you should ask a fresh question. If you want help with a specific spectrum, you can include it (with all the relevant & necessary data) as an example in your new question. That way, it may be helpful for future readers, not just yourself.  

---

