Essential Radio Astronomy

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 An Introduction to Radio Astronomy -- 1.2 The Discovery of Cosmic Radio Noise -- 1.3 A Tour of the Radio Universe -- 2 Radiation Fundamentals -- 2.1 Brightness and Flux Density -- 2.2 Radiative Transfer -- 2.3 Polarization -- 2.4 Blackbody Radiation -- 2.5 Noise Generated by a Warm Resistor -- 2.6 Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation -- 2.7 Radiation from an Accelerated Charge -- 2.8 Dust Emission at Radio Wavelengths -- 3 Radio Telescopes and Radiometers -- 3.1 Antenna Fundamentals -- 3.2 Reflector Antennas -- 3.3 Two-Dimensional Aperture Antennas -- 3.4 Waveguides -- 3.5 Radio Telescopes -- 3.6 Radiometers -- 3.7 Interferometers -- 4 Free-Free Radiation -- 4.1 Thermal and Nonthermal Emission -- 4.2 HII Regions -- 4.3 Free-Free Radio Emission from HII Regions -- 5 Synchrotron Radiation -- 5.1 Magnetobremsstrahlung -- 5.2 Synchrotron Power -- 5.3 Synchrotron Spectra -- 5.4 Synchrotron Sources -- 5.5 Inverse-Compton Scattering -- 5.6 Extragalactic Radio Sources -- 6 Pulsars -- 6.1 Pulsar Properties -- 6.2 Pulsars and the Interstellar Medium -- 6.3 Pulsar Timing -- 7 Spectral Lines -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Recombination Lines -- 7.3 Line Radiative Transfer -- 7.4 Excitation Temperature -- 7.5 Masers -- 7.6 Recombination Line Sources -- 7.7 Molecular Line Spectra -- 7.8 The HI 21-cm Line -- A Fourier Transforms -- A.1 The Fourier Transform -- A.2 The Discrete Fourier Transform -- A.3 The Sampling Theorem -- A.4 The Power Spectrum -- A.5 Basic Transforms -- A.6 Basic Fourier Theorems -- A.7 Convolution and Cross-Correlation -- A.8 Other Fourier Transform Links -- B Mathematical Derivations -- B.1 Evaluation of Planck's Sum -- B.2 Derivation of the Stefan-Boltzmann Law -- B.3 Complex Exponentials

B.4 The Fourier Transform of a Gaussian -- B.5 The Gaussian Probability Distribution and Noise Voltage -- B.6 The Probability Distribution of Noise Power -- B.7 Evaluation of the Free-Free Pulse Energy Integral -- B.8 The Nonrelativistic Maxwellian Speed Distribution -- C Special Relativity -- C.1 Relativity -- C.2 Time Dilation and Length Contraction -- C.3 Velocity Addition Formulas -- C.4 Mass, Energy, and Power -- D Wave Propagation in a Plasma -- D.1 Dispersion and Reflection in a Low-Density Plasma -- D.2 Faraday Rotation in a Magnetized Plasma -- E Essential Equations -- F Constants, Units, and Dimensions -- F.1 Physical Constants -- F.2 Astronomical Constants -- F.3 MKS (SI) and Gaussian CGS Units -- F.4 Other Constants and Units -- F.5 Radar and Waveguide Frequency Bands -- F.6 Dimensional Analysis -- G Symbols and Abbreviations -- G.1 Greek Symbols -- G.2 Other Symbols and Abbreviations -- H References and Links -- H.1 Reference Books -- H.2 Links -- Bibliography -- Index