= Ralph S. Sutherland
{c}
<Ralph S. Sutherland> coauthored a study of <probability distributions> of <electron> <kinetic energy> in <H II regions> and <planetary nebulae>. With <David C. Nicholls> and <Michael A. Dopita>, he investigated whether deviations from a <Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution> could account for disagreements between different inferred <temperatures> and chemical abundances.
The authors explored a <Kappa distribution> with an enhanced high-<energy> population. The methodological point is that a <temperature> diagnostic depends on the assumed particle distribution; fitting different spectral lines can probe that assumption rather than merely repeat the same measurement.<Resolving the electron temperature discrepancies in H II regions and planetary nebulae: kappa-distributed electrons by David C. Nicholls and others>[Abstract: discrepancies between diagnostics and the proposed kappa-distribution interpretation]{ref}
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