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Volume 10 (2014) PROGRESS IN PHYSICS Issue 1 (January)
LETTERS TO PROGRESS IN PHYSICS
The Liquid Metallic Hydrogen Model of the Sun and the Solar Atmosphere VIII.
‘Futile’ Processes in the Chromosphere
Joseph Luc Robitaille1and Pierre-Marie Robitaille2
1P.O. Box 21025, Columbus, Ohio, 43221.
2Department of Radiology, The Ohio State University, 395 W. 12th Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
robitaille.1@osu.edu
In the liquid metallic hydrogen solar model (LMHSM), the chromosphere is the site of
hydrogen condensation (P.M. Robitaille. The Liquid Metallic Hydrogen Model of the
Sun and the Solar Atmosphere IV. On the Nature of the Chromosphere. Progr. Phys.,
2013, v.3, L15–L21). Line emission is associated with the dissipation of energy from
condensed hydrogen structures, CHS. Previously considered reactions resulted in hy-
drogen atom or cluster addition to the site of condensation. In this work, an additional
mechanism is presented, wherein atomic or molecular species interact with CHS, but
do not deposit hydrogen. These reactions channel heat away from CHS, enabling them
to cool even more rapidly. As a result, this new class of processes could complement
true hydrogen condensation reactions by providing an auxiliary mechanism for the re-
moval of heat. Such ‘futile’ reactions lead to the formation of activated atoms, ions, or
molecules and might contribute to line emission from such species. Evidence that com-
plimentary ‘futile’ reactions might be important in the chromosphere can be extracted
from lineshape analysis.
In order to explain the occurrence of the dark lines
in the solar spectrum, we must assume that the solar
atmosphere incloses a luminous nucleus, producing
a continuous spectrum, the brightness of which ex-
ceeds a certain limit. The most probable supposi-
tion which can be made respecting the Sun’s consti-
tution is, that it consists of a solid or liquid nucleus,
heated to a temperature of the brightest whiteness,
surrounded by an atmosphere of somewhat lower
temperature.
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, 1862 [1]
1 Introduction
During a solar eclipse, the flash spectrum associated with
the chromosphere of the Sun becomes readily visible [2–5].
This spectrum is dominated by emission lines from hydro-
gen, most notably H-α, which gives rise to its characteristic
color. However, the flash spectrum also contains a wide ar-
ray of emission lines generated from neutral atoms, ions, or
molecules [2–5]. Within the context of the Standard Solar
Models (SSM) [6], these emission lines are produced by ran-
dom temperature related excitation processes in this region of
the Sun. Because the SSM adopt a gaseous solar body, the
chromosphere is devoid of function and line emission does
not help to account for structure.
In sharp contrast, within the Liquid Metallic Hydrogen
Solar Model (LMHSM) [7, 8], the chromosphere is a site of
hydrogen and proton capture, while the corona is responsi-
ble for harvesting electrons [8–12]. Condensation reactions
have therefore been advanced to account for the production
of emission lines in the chromosphere. These reactions facil-
itate the deposit of atomic hydrogen onto condensed hydro-
gen structures, CHS [9, 11, 12]. Line emission in the chro-
mosphere is fundamentally linked to the dissipation of heat
associated with exothermic condensation reactions. The role
of condensation reactions in the chromosphere of the Sun has
previously been presented in substantial detail [9, 11,12]. For
the sake of clarity, it is briefly readdressed herein.
One can consider an atom, A, reacting with hydrogen, H,
to give rise to a molecular species, AH [8, 9, 11]. It should
be possible for AH and CHS in the chromosphere to form an
activated complex,CHS +AH →CHS-HA∗. This would then
be followed by an exothermic step involving the expulsion of
an activated atom, CHS-HA∗→CHS–H +A∗, followed by
the line emission from A∗, A∗→A+hν. In such a manner, a
viable scheme is presented to account for line emission from
neutral atoms, including those from hydrogen itself.
An analogous process could also be applied to a cation,
A+n, reacting with hydrogen, H, to give rise to a molecu-
lar species, AH+n, where n=1, 2, etc [8, 9, 11]. Reaction
of AH+nwith a condensed hydrogen structure (CHS) in the
chromosphere leads to an activated complex, CHS +AH+n→
CHS-HA+n∗. This would then be followed by an exothermic
step involving the expulsion of an activated ion, CHS-HA+n∗
→CHS–H +A+n∗, followed by the line emission from the
cation, A+n∗, A+n∗→A++hν. Such reactions have been
postulated to play an important role in the chromosphere and
can explain the HeII lines, if HeH+triggers the condensa-
tion [8,11]. When Ca+acts as the initial cation, such a mech-
anism can account for the strong CaII lines in the Sun [9].
36 Joseph Luc Robitaille and Pierre-Marie Robitaille. ‘Futile’ Processes in the Chromosphere
Issue 1 (January) PROGRESS IN PHYSICS Volume 10 (2014)
2 ‘Futile’ reactions
There is another class of reactions which may play a role in
the Sun, but has previously been overlooked. It is possible
for interactions to take place with condensed hydrogen struc-
tures, but without the net transfer of a hydrogen atom. This
new set of ‘futile’ reactions is important for three reasons: 1)
it offers new insight relative to line emission arising from neu-
tral atoms and molecules, 2) it adds an important new mecha-
nism, which can complement previous reactions [9,11, 12], in
describing spectroscopic linewidths in the chromosphere, and
3) it provides a mechanism which can facilitate condensation
reactions in the chromosphere by offering yet another means
to dissipate heat.
In biochemistry, futile reactions tend to be cyclic in na-
ture. They involve chemical processes which do not lead to
any useful work, but which are exothermic.
A classic example of a futile cycle would involve the reac-
tions of fructose-6-phosphate in glycolysis and gluconeogen-
esis. During glycolysis, we have a reaction catalyzed by phos-
phofructokinase: fructose-6-phosphate +ATP →fructose-
1,6-bisphosphate +ADP. The reaction is reversed in gluco-
neogenesis using fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase: fructose-1,6-
bisphosphate +H2O→fructose-6-phosphate +Pi. The over-
all reaction involves the simple wastage of ATP and energy
dissipation without net work: ATP +H2O→ADP +Pi+
heat. The cell, of course, had to work to make the ATP and as
a result, such a cycle is truly futile.
Let us consider the simplest futile reaction in the chromo-
sphere. A hydrogen atom, H, interacts directly with a con-
densed hydrogen structure to form a weak activated complex,
CHS +H→CHS–H∗. But this time, the reaction is reversed
and no hydrogen is deposited: CHS–H∗→CHS +H∗. This
would then be followed by line emission from activated hy-
drogen H∗, H∗→H+hν, as hydrogen is allowed to relax
back to the ground state. The reaction appears futile, as no
net change has taken place. But on closer examination, it is
noted that heat has been removed from the condensed hydro-
gen structure. As a result, though no additional condensation
has occurred, such a futile process can cool the condensing
structure, thereby facilitating its growth when other true con-
densation reactions [8–12] are occurring in parallel.
It is now readily apparent that a wide array of ‘futile’ pro-
cesses may exist in the chromosphere. For instance, an atom,
A, could react with hydrogen, H, to give rise to a molecular
species, AH [8, 9, 11]. AH could interact with CHS in the
chromosphere to form an activated complex, CHS +AH →
CHS–HA∗. The reaction is reversed and no hydrogen is de-
posited: CHS–HA∗→CHS +AH∗. This would then be fol-
lowed by line emission from the molecular species AH∗, AH∗
→AH +hν. In such a manner, a viable scheme is presented to
account for line emission from small neutral molecules, such
as H2, CaH, LiH, etc. Similar reactions could also be invoked
which involve small molecules such as H2O or NH3. The
result would be line emission from these molecular species.
The analysis of spectroscopic lineshapes in the Sun is
an area of considerable complexity for current models. The
wings and cores of many lines appear to change with alti-
tude above the solar surface (see [3, 4, 8, 13] and references
therein). Such findings suggest that the mechanism involved
in line production might well involve both true condensation
reactions and futile processes. As previously stated [8], it is
unlikely that Stark mechanisms are truly responsible for the
lineshapes we observe in the Sun.
Dedication
Dedicated to past, present, and future astronomers.
Submitted on: January 13, 2014 /Accepted on: January 15, 2014
First published online on: January 18, 2014
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Joseph Luc Robitaille and Pierre-Marie Robitaille. ‘Futile’ Processes in the Chromosphere 37
