Absorption and Emission of EUV Radiation by the Local ISM

Abstract

AbstractThe Berkeley EUV telescope flown on the Apollo Soyuz mission in July, 1975 established the existence of a measurable flux of EUV radiation (100 ≤ λ ≤ 1000 Å) originating from sources outside the solar system. White dwarfs, flare stars and cataclysmic variables were discovered to be relatively intense compact sources of EUV photons. Moreover, this and other subsequent experiments have strongly suggested the presence of a truly diffuse component of the EUV radiation field possibly due to thermal emission from hot (T > 105 K) interstellar gas located in the general vicinity of the sun (r ≃ 100 parsecs.) Closer to the HI, 912 Å edge, the effect of a few hot O and B stars has been shown to be very important in establishing the interstellar flux density. All these results imply that the local ISM is immersed in a non-negligible EUV radiation field which, because of the strong coupling between EUV photons and matter, will play a crucial role in determining its physical structure. Conversely, of course, the local ISM is expected to leave a strong imprint on the EUV field reaching the terrestrial observer.The objective of this review will be to assemble and critically analyze the available information on the local ISM derived from the limited EUV observations carried out so far. These include measurements of the spectra of bright EUV sources that reveal clear evidence of H photo absorption at λ > 400 Å and of the He ionization edge at 228 Å. The EUV diffuse background is found to convey interesting information on the density, temperature and possible location of the hot ISM component that can be profitably compared with similar data on far uv absorption lines, principally OVI. The results discussed in this context will be shown to be quite useful in illuminating the path that future EUV sensitive observatories such as EUVE and Columbus might profitably follow in the near future.