Enhancement of the helium resonance lines in the solar atmosphere by suprathermal electron excitation - II. Non-Maxwellian electron distributions

In solar extreme ultraviolet spectra the He I and He II resonance lines show unusual behaviour and have anomalously high intensities compared with other transition region lines. The formation of the helium resonance lines is investigated through extensive non-local thermal equilibrium radiative transfer calculations. The model atmospheres of Vernazza, Avrett & Loeser are found to provide reasonable matches to the helium resonance line intensities but significantly overestimate the intensities of other transition region lines. New model atmospheres have been developed from emission measure distributions derived by Macpherson & Jordan, which are consistent with SOHO observations of transition region lines other than those of helium. These models fail to reproduce the observed helium resonance line intensities by significant factors. The possibility that non-Maxwellian electron distributions in the transition region might lead to increased collisional excitation rates in the helium lines is studied. Collisional excitation and ionization rates are recomputed for distribution functions with power-law suprathermal tails that may form by the transport of fast electrons from high-temperature regions. Enhancements of the helium resonance line intensities are found, but many of the predictions of the models regarding line ratios are inconsistent with observations. These results suggest that any such departures from Maxwellian electron distributions are not responsible for the helium resonance line intensities.