Recent cosmological observations indicate that the reionized universe may have started at around z = 6, where a significant suppression around Lyα has been observed from the neutral intergalactic medium. The associated neutral hydrogen column density is expected to exceed 1021 cm−2, where it is very important to use the accurate scattering cross section known as the Kramers-Heisenberg formula that is obtained from the fully quantum mechanical time-dependent second order perturbation theory. We present the Kramers-Heisenberg formula and compare it with the formula introduced in a heuristic way by Peebles (1993) considering the hydrogen atom as a two-level atom, from which we find a deviation by a factor of two in the red wing region far from the line center. Adopting a representative set of cosmological parameters, we compute the Gunn-Peterson optical depths and absorption profiles. Our results are quantitatively compared with previous work by Madau & Rees (2000), who adopted the Peebles approximation in their radiative transfer problems. We find deviations up to 5 per cent in the Gunn-Peterson transmission coefficient for an accelerated expanding universe in the red off-resonance wing part with the rest wavelength Δλ ∼ 10 °A.

A small number of active galactic nuclei are known to exhibit prominent double peak emission profiles that are well-fitted by a relativistic accretion disk model. We develop a Monte Carlo code to compute the linear polarization of a double peaked broad emission line arising from Thomson scattering. A Keplerian accretion disk is adopted for the double peak emission line region and the geometry is assumed to be Schwarzschild. Far from the accretion disk where flat Minkowski geometry is appropriate, we place an azimuthally symmetric scattering region in the shape of a spherical shell sliced with Δμ =0.1. Adopting a Monte Carlo method we generate line photons in the accretion disk in arbitrary directions in the local rest frame and follow the geodesic paths of the photons until they hit the scattering region. The profile of the polarized flux is mainly determined by the relative location of the scattering region with respect to the emission source. When the scattering region is in the polar direction, the degree of linear polarization also shows a double peak structure. Under favorable conditions we show that up to 0.6% linear polarization may be obtained. We conclude that spectropolarimetry can be a powerful probe to reveal much information regarding the accretion disk geometry of these active galactic nuclei.

Resonance doublets including O VI 1032, 1038, NV 1239, 1243 and C IV 1548, 1551 constitute prominent emission lines in symbiotic stars and planetary nebulae. Spectroscopic studies of symbiotic stars and planetary nebulae from UV space telescopes show various line ratios of these doublets deviating from the theoretical ratio of 2:1. Using a Monte Carlo technique, we investigate the collisional de-excitation effect in these emission nebulae. We consider an emission nebula around the hot component of a symbiotic star characterized by the collisional de-excitation probability Pcoll~10-3-10-4 per each resonance scattering, and the line center optical depths for major resonance doublets in the range T0~102-105 We find that various line ratios are obtained when the product PcollT0 is of order unity. Our Monte Carlo calculations show that the flux ratio can be approximately fitted by a linear function of logT0 when T0Pcoll~1 It is briefly discussed that this corresponds to the range relevant to the emission nebulae of symbiotic stars.

Ever since the identification of 6830 and 7088 features as the Raman scattered O VI 1032, 1038 resonance doublets in symbiotic stars by Schmid (1989), Raman scattering by atomic hydrogen has been a very unique tool to investigate the mass transfer processes in symbiotic stars. Discovery of Raman scattered He II in young planetary nebulae (NGC 7027, NGC 6302, IC 5117) allow one to expect that Raman scattering can be an extremely useful tool to look into the mass loss processes in these objects. Because hydrogen is a single electron atom, their wavefunctions are known in closed form, so that exact calculations of cross sections are feasible. In this paper, I review some basic properties of Raman scattered features and present detailed and explicit matrix elements for computation of the scattering cross section of radiation with atomic hydrogen. Some astrophysical objects for which Raman scattering may be observationally pertinent are briefly mentioned.

About 10 percent of quasars are known to exhibit deep broad absorption troughs blueward of prominent permitted emission lines, which are usually attributed to the existence of outflows slightly above he accretion disk around the supermassive black hole. Typical widths up to 0.2c of these absorption roughs indicate the velocity scales in which special relativistic effects may not be negligible. Under he assumption of the ubiquity of the broad absorption line region in quasars, the broad emission line flux will exhibit Thomson scattered components from these fast outflows. In this paper, we provide our Monte Carlo calculation of linear polarization of singly Thomson scattered line radiation with the careful considerations of special relativistic effects. The scattering region is approximated by a collection of rings that are moving outward with speeds υ =cβ < 0.2c near the equatorial plane, and the scattered line photons are collected according to its direction and wavelength in the observer's rest frame. We find that the significantly extended red tail appears in the scattered radiation. We also find that the linear degree of polarization of singly Thomson scattered line radiation is wavelength-dependent and hat there are significant differences in the linear degree of polarization from that computed from classical physics in the far red tail. We propose that the semi-forbidden broad emission line C III]1909 may be significantly contributed from Thomson scattering because this line has small resonance scattering optical depth in the broad absorption line region, which leads to distinct and significant polarized flux in this broad emission line.

In Lee, Kang & Byun (2001) the discovery of Raman scattered 6545 A feature was reported in symbiotic stars and the planetary nebula M2-9. The broad emission feature around 6545 A is formed as a result of Raman scattering of He II n = 6 → n = 2 photons by atomic hydrogen. In this paper, we introduce a method to compute the equivalent width of He II ⋋ 1025 line and present an optical spectrum of the symbiotic star RR Telescopii as an example for a detailed illustration. In this spectrum, we pay attention to the broad Hα wings and the Raman scattered He II 6545 feature. The broad Ha wings are also proposed to be formed through Raman scattering of continuum around Lyβ by Lee (2000), and therefore we propose that the equivalent width of the He II ⋋ 1025 emission line is obtained by a simple comparison of the strengths of the 6545 feature and the broad Hα wings. We prepare a template Hα wing profile from continuum radiation around Lyβ with the neutral scattering region that is supposed to be responsible for the formation of Raman scattered He II 6545 feature. Isolation of the 6545 feature that is blended with [N II] ⋋ 6548 is made by using the fact that [N II] ⋋ 6584 is always 3 times stronger than [N II] ⋋ 6548. We also fit the 6545 feature by a Gaussian which has a width 6.4 times that of the He II ⋋ 6527 line. A direct comparison of these two features for RR Tel yields the equivalent width EW Hel025 = 2.3 Å of He II ⋋ 1025 line. Even though this far UV emission line is not directly observable due to heavy interstellar extinction, nearby He II lines such as He II ⋋ 1085 line may be observed using far UV space instruments, which will verify this calculation and hence the origins of various features occurring in spectra around Hα.

Almost half of primeval galaxies show P-Cygni type profiles in the Lyα emission line. The main underlying mechanism for the profile formation in these systems is thought to be the frequency re-distribution of the line photons in expanding scattering media surrounding the emission source. A Monte Carlo code is developed to investigate the Lyα line transfer in an optically thick and moving medium with a careful consideration of the scattering in the damping wings. Typical column densities and expansion velocities of neutral hydrogen investigated in this study are NH1 ~10 17-20 cm -2 and ΔV ~ 100 km s-1. We investigate the dependence of the emergent profiles on the kinematics and on the column density. Our numerical results are applied to show that the damped Lyα absorbers may possess an expanding H I supershell with bulk flow of ~ 200 km s-l and H I column density NH1 ~ 10 19 cm -2. We briefly discuss the observational implications.

The international ultraviolet explorer (IUE) spectra of a low dispersion ~6 Å, have been investigated for two Seyfert 1 galaxies, Mrk 335 and NGC 4051, well known for the line variability. The electron densities of broad line region (BLR) of these variable Seyfert 1 galaxies have been derived, which showed a non-linear abrupt variation from 10 8 to 10 10 cm-3 within a month. We also found the excitation (or temperature) changes in the Mrk 335 BLR from the IUE broad line profiles analysis, but no such evidence in the NGC 4051. The large amount of mass inflow activity through the bar or spiral structure of host galaxies, may trigger the density change in BLR and emission line variability for both objects. Mass of the giant black holes appear to be order of 10 7 M⊙ for both variable Seyfert l's.