Group-theoretical description of radiative transfer in one-dimensional media

Group theory is used to describe a procedure for adding inhomogeneous absorbing and scattering atmospheres in a one-dimensional approximation. The inhomogeneity originates in the variation of the scattering coefficient with depth. Group representations are derived for the composition of media in three different cases: inhomogeneous atmospheres in which the scattering coefficient varies continuously with depth, composite or multicomponent atmospheres, and the special case of homogeneous atmospheres. We extend an earlier proposal to solve problems in radiative transfer theory by first finding global characteristics of a medium (reflection and transmission coefficients) and then determining the internal radiation field for an entire family of media without solving any new equations. Semi-infinite atmospheres are examined separately. For some special depth dependences of the scattering coefficients it is possible to obtain simple analytic solutions expressed in terms of elementary functions. An algorithm for numerical solution of radiative transfer problems in inhomogeneous atmospheres is described.     

Lyman α radiative transfer in a multiphase medium

Hydrogen Lyman α (Lyα) is our primary emission-line window into high-redshift galaxies. Despite an extensive literature, Lyα radiative transfer in the most realistic case of a dusty, multiphase medium has received surprisingly little detailed theoretical attention. We investigate Lyα resonant scattering through an ensemble of dusty, moving, optically thick gas clumps. We treat each clump as a scattering particle and use Monte Carlo simulations of surface scattering to quantify continuum and Lyα surface scattering angles, absorption probabilities, and frequency redistribution, as a function of the gas dust content. This atomistic approach speeds up the simulations by many orders of magnitude, making possible calculations which are otherwise intractable. Our fitting formulae can be readily adapted for fast radiative transfer in numerical simulations. With these surface scattering results, we develop an analytic framework for estimating escape fractions and line widths as a function of gas geometry, motion, and dust content. Our simple analytic model shows good agreement with full Monte Carlo simulations. We show that the key geometric parameter is the average number of surface scatters for escape in the absence of absorption,     , and we provide fitting formulae for several geometries of astrophysical interest. We consider the following two interesting applications. (i) Equivalent widths ( EWs ). Lyα can preferentially escape from a dusty multiphase interstellar medium if most of the dust lies in cold neutral clouds, which Lyα photons cannot penetrate. This might explain the anomalously high EWs sometimes seen in high-redshift/submillimetre sources. (ii) Multiphase galactic outflows . We show the characteristic profile is asymmetric with a broad red tail, and relate the profile features to the outflow speed and gas geometry. Many future applications are envisaged.     

TheH-functions of radiative transfer in an active amplifying medium

We obtain two explicit closed form representations of Chandrasekhar'sH-functionsH(z) characterising transfer of radiation in an active amplifying medium corresponding to the dispersion function $$T(z) = 1 - 2z^2 \int\limits_0^1 {Y(x)dx/(z^2 - x^2 ), Y(x)< 0 on [0, 1]} .$$ Their basic properties are derived and the values of theH-functionH(z, ω) whenY(x)=ω/2, are approximately computed for values of ω in the range (?10^?12)–(?10²) and for values ofzε[0, 1].     

Three-dimensional numerical cosmological radiative transfer in an inhomogeneous medium

A numerical scheme is proposed for the solution of the three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer equation with variable optical depth. We show that time-dependent ray tracing is an attractive choice for simulations of astrophysical ionization fronts, particularly when one is interested in covering a wide range of optical depths within a three-dimensional clumpy medium. Our approach combines the explicit advection of radiation variables with the implicit solution of local rate equations given the radiation field at each point. Our scheme is well suited to the solution of problems for which line transfer is not important, and could, in principle, be extended to those situations also. This scheme allows us to calculate the propagation of supersonic ionization fronts into an inhomogeneous medium. The approach can be easily implemented on a single workstation and should also be fully parallelizable.     

Padé approximants for radiative transfer in inhomogeneous medium

The Padé approximants is used to estimate the albedo for an inhomogeneous semi-infinite medium. The single-scattering albedo is assumed to fall off exponentially with optical depth.     

Anisotropic radiative heat transfer for an inhomogeneous finite medium

The bivariational method is used to solve the radiative transfer problems for an anisotropic inhomogeneous finite slab. Numerical results are given for the albedo.     

Solution of radiative transfer equation with spherical-symmetry in partially scattering medium

We have solved the equation of radiative transfer in spherical symmetry with scattering and absorbing medium. We have set the albedo for single scattering to be equal to 0.5. We have set the Planck function constant throughout the medium in one case and in another case the Planck function has been set to vary asr ^–2. The geometrical extension of the spherical shell has been taken as large as one stellar radius. Two kinds of variations of the optical depth are employed (1) that remains constant with radius and (2) that varies asr ^–2. In all these cases the internal source vectors and specific intensities change depending upon the type of physics we have employed in each case.     

Modified spherical harmonic method in radiative transfer in linearly anisotropic scattering planar medium

Mengüç, and Viskanta (1983) examined the scope of some approximate methods for solving transfer problems in plane medium scattering anisotropically. His aim was to focus attention on methods capable of extension to multidimensional geometry. In the present paper, it is demonstrated that modified double-interval spherical harmonic method admirably suits that role. The transfer problem of Mengüç and Viskanta's model has been solved by this method. The results computed are found to be in good agreement with those obtained by other methods.     

Advances in radiative transfer

This review describes advances in radiative transfer theory since about 1985. We stress fundamental aspects and emphasize modern methods for the numerical solution of the transfer equation for spatially multidimensional problems, for both unpolarized and polarized radiation. We restrict the discussion to two-level atoms with noninverted populations for given temperature, density and velocity fields. Unfortunately this article was originally published with typesetter's errors: The correct publication date was 25 February 2006, not 3 January 2006. The content was not in the final form. The publishers wish to apologize for this mistake. The online version of the original version can be found at /10.1007/s00159-005-0025-8.     

An inverse problem in a three-dimensional radiative transfer

In a series of papers (cf. Bellmanet al., 1965a, b; Kagiwadaet al., 1975), an estimation of optical properties of turbid media has been made, in the least-squared sense, with the aid of quasi-linearization and invariant imbedding. Recently, an extension of the above procedure to the three-dimensional case with horizontally inhomogeneous albedo of the underlying surface has been attempted (Ueno, 1982). From computational aspects the numerical evaluation is not so easy, even by means of high-speed electronic computers. In the present paper it is shown that the latin-square algorithm is a useful estimate for the least-squares inference of the optical properties of turbid media bounded by an inhomogeneous reflecting surface.     

The solution of a time-dependent problem in radiative transfer

The time-dependent equation of radiative transfer for a finite, plane-parallel, non-radiating, and isotropically scattering atmosphere of arbitrary stratification is solved by using the integral equation method. The medium is taken to be inhomogeneous. The Laplace transform is used in the time domain. It is seen that the obtained solutions are reducible to the corresponding ones for steady-state problems by simply changing the Laplace transform parameter to zero.