THE ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION OF Ly{alpha} RESONANT PHOTONS EMERGING FROM AN OPTICALLY THICK MEDIUM
- Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 (United States)
- Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering Division, St Thomas Hospital, Kings College London, SE1 7EH (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
We investigate the angular distribution of Ly{alpha} photons scattering or emerging from an optically thick medium. Since the evolution of specific intensity I in frequency space and angular space are coupled with each other, we first develop the WENO numerical solver to find the time-dependent solutions of the integro-differential equation of I in frequency and angular space simultaneously. We first show that the solutions with the Eddington approximation, which assume that I is linearly dependent on the angular variable {mu}, yield similar frequency profiles of the photon flux as those without the Eddington approximation. However, the solutions of the {mu} distribution evolution are significantly different from those given by the Eddington approximation. First, the angular distribution of I is found to be substantially dependent on the frequency of the photons. For photons with the resonant frequency {nu}{sub 0}, I contains only a linear term of {mu}. For photons with frequencies at the double peaks of the flux, the {mu}-distribution is highly anisotropic; most photons are emitted radially forward. Moreover, either at {nu}{sub 0} or at the double peaks, the {mu} distributions actually are independent of the initial {mu} distribution of photons of the source. This is because the photons with frequencies either at {nu}{sub 0} or the double peaks undergo the process of forgetting their initial conditions due to resonant scattering. We also show that the optically thick medium is a collimator of photons at the double peaks. Photons from the double peaks form a forward beam with a very small opening angle.
- OSTI ID:
- 22140114
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 772, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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