Related papers: Using Absorptive Linear Polarization Spectroscopy …
Linear spectropolarimetry is a powerful tool to probe circumstellar structures on spatial scales that cannot yet be achieved through direct imaging. In this review I discuss the role that emission-line polarimetry can play in constraining…
Astronomical polarimetry is a powerful technique that can provide physical information sometimes difficult or impossible to obtain by any other type of observation. Almost every class of binary star can benefit from polarimetric…
The relative population of the fine structure sublevels of an atom's ground state is affected by radiative transitions induced by an anisotropic radiation flux. This causes the alignment of atomic angular momentum. In terms of observational…
The near-star environment around obscured stars is very dynamic. Many classes of stars show evidence for winds, disks, inflows and outflows with many phenomena occurring simultaneously. These processes are involved in stellar evolution,…
The polarization of light across spectral lines contains information about the circumstellar material on small spatial scales. Many models relate the circumstellar environment to observable polarization changes across spectral lines.…
The aim of this article is to demonstrate the useful role that can be played by spectropolarimetric observations of young and evolved emission line stars that analyse the linearly polarized component in their spectra. At the time of…
Recent spectropolarimetric observations of Herbig AeBe stellar systems show linear polarization variability with wavelength and epoch near their obscured H-alpha emission. Surprisingly, this polarization is not coincident with the H-alpha…
The polarization state of starlight reflected by a planetary atmosphere uniquely reveals coverage, particle size, and composition of aerosols as well as changing cloud patterns. It is not possible to obtain a comparable level of detailed…
Linear polarimetry of unresolved stars is a powerful method for discerning or constraining the geometry of a source and its environment, since spherical sources produce no net polarization. However, a general challenge to interpreting…
An emission tomography of laser-induced plasmas employed in the laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) requires long signal integration times during which the plasma cannot be considered stationary. To reduce the integration time, it…
Supernova flux and polarization spectra bring vital information on the geometry, physical conditions, and composition structure of the ejected matter. For some supernovae the circumstellar matter is also probed by the observed spectra. Some…
Infrared vibration-rotation lines can be valuable probes of interstellar and circumstellar molecules, especially symmetric molecules, which have no pure rotational transitions. But most such observations have been interpreted with an…
Planets reflect and linearly polarize the radiation that they receive from their host stars. The emergent polarization is sensitive to aspects of the planet atmosphere such as the gas composition and the occurrence of condensates and their…
Spectropolarimetric techniques are a mainstay of astrophysical inquiry, ranging from Solar System objects to the Cosmic Background Radiation. This review highlights applications of stellar polarimetry for massive hot stars, particularly in…
Polarization provides additional diagnostic opportunities for probing the structured environments of massive stars as well as the illumination of those environments by stars that are not spherical. After a brief overview of polarization…
The ongoing quest to identify molecules in the interstellar medium by their electronic spectra in the visible region is reviewed. Identification of molecular absorption is described in the context of the elucidation of the carriers of the…
The polarization of light is a critically under-utilized, rich source of information in astronomy. For stars in particular, surface magnetism polarization that can be detected and measured with spectro-polarimetry. Many questions about…
Polarized scattering in planetary atmospheres is computed in the context of exoplanets. The problem of polarized radiative transfer is solved for a general case of absorption and scattering, while Rayleigh and Mie polarized scattering are…
In this paper we discuss the relevance of, and possible scientific gains which can be acquired from studying circumstellar molecular spectra toward evolved stars. Where can we expect circumstellar molecular spectra, why would we want to…
The ability to measure polarisation, spectrum, temporal dynamics, and spatial amplitude and phase of optical beams is essential to study fundamental phenomena in laser dynamics, telecommunications and nonlinear optics. Current…