Radiative Transfer:

Interpreting
the observed light
?
References:

A standard book on radiative processes in
astrophysics is: Rybicki & Lightman Radiative
Processes in Astrophysics Wiley-Interscience
For radiative transfer in particular there are
some excellent lecture notes on-line by Rob
Rutten Radiative transfer in stellar
atmospheres
http://www.astro.uu.nl/~rutten/Course_notes.html

Radiation as a messenger
I
,in
I
,out

Spectra
van Kempen et al. (2010)
Images
Hubble Image
One image is worth
a 1000 words...
One spectrum is worth
a 1000 images...
Radiative quantities
Basic radiation quantity: intensity

I(O,v) =
erg
s cm
2
Hz ster
Definition of mean intensity

J(v) =
1
4t
I(O,v)dO
4t
}
=
erg
s cm
2
Hz ster
Definition of flux

r
F (v) = I(O,v)
r
O dO
4t
}
=
erg
s cm
2
Hz
Thermal radiation
Planck function:
In dense isothermal medium, the radiation field is in thermodynamic
equilibrium. The intensity of such an equilibrium radiation field is:

I
v
= B
v
(T)
2hv
3
/c
2
[exp( hv / kT) 1]
(Planck function)
Wien Rayleigh-Jeans
In Rayleigh-Jeans limit (hv<<kT)
this becomes a power law:

I
v
= B
v
(T)
2kTv
2
c
2

v
2
Thermal radiation
Blackbody emission:
An opaque surface of a given temperature emits a flux
according to the following formula:

F
v
=tB
v
(T)
Integrated over all frequencies (i.e. total emitted energy):

F F
v
dv
0

}
= t B
v
(T)dv
0

}
If you work this out you get:

F =oT
4

o= 5.6710
5
erg/cm
2
/K
4
/s
Radiative transfer
In vaccuum: intensity is constant along a ray
Example: a star
A B

F
A
=
r
B
2
r
A
2
F
B

AO
A
=
r
B
2
r
A
2
AO
B

F = IAO

I =const
Non-vacuum: emission and absorption change intensity:

dI
ds
= k S k I
Emission Extinction
(s is path length)
Radiative transfer

dI
v
ds
= k
v
(S
v
I
v
)
Radiative transfer equation again:
Over length scales larger than 1/k
v
intensity I tends to
approach source function S.
Photon mean free path:

l
free,v
=
1
k
v
Optical depth of a
cloud of size L:

t
v
=
L
l
free, v
= Lk
v
In case of local thermodynamic
equilibrium: S is Planck function:

S
v
= B
v
(T)
Rad. trans. through a cloud of fixed T
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Rad. trans. through a cloud of fixed T
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Rad. trans. through a cloud of fixed T
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Rad. trans. through a cloud of fixed T
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Rad. trans. through a cloud of fixed T
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Rad. trans. through a cloud of fixed T
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Rad. trans. through a cloud of fixed T
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Rad. trans. through a cloud of fixed T
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Formal radiative transfer solution
Observed flux from single-temperature slab:

I
v
obs
= I
v
0
e
t
v
+ (1e
t
v
) B
v
(T)

~t
v
B
v
(T)
for

t
v
<<1

I
v
0
= 0
and

dI
v
ds
= k
v
(S
v
I
v
)
Radiative transfer equation again:

t
v
= Lk
v
Emission vs. absorption lines
Line Profile:

k
v
= Ke
Av
2
/o
2

Av =v v
line

o =v
line
1
c
2kT

(for thermal broadning)

line

Emission vs. absorption lines
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Emission vs. absorption lines
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Emission vs. absorption lines
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Emission vs. absorption lines
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Emission vs. absorption lines
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Emission vs. absorption lines
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Emission vs. absorption lines
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Emission vs. absorption lines
I
,bg
I
,out

T
cloud

cloud
T
bg
=6000 K
Emission vs. absorption lines
Hot surface layer

t
v
s1

t
v
>>1
Flux

Cool surface layer
Flux


I
v
obs
= I
v
0
e
t
v
+ (1e
t
v
) B
v
(T)
Example: The Suns photosphere
Spectrum of the sun:
Fraunhofer lines = absorption lines
What do we learn?

Temperature of the
gas goes down
toward the suns
surface!
Example: The Suns corona
X-ray spectrum of the sun using CORONAS-F
Sylwester, Sylwester & Phillips (2010)
What do we learn?

There must be very
hot plasma hovering
above the suns
surface! And this
plasma is optically
thin!
Suns temperature structure
Model by Fedun, Shelyag, Erdelyi (2011)
Example: Protoplanetary Disks
Spitzer Spectra of T Tauri disks by Furlan et al. (2006)
What do we learn?

The surface layers
of the disk must be
warm compared to
the interior!
How a disk gets a warm surface layer
Literature: Chiang & Goldreich (1997), DAlessio et al. (1998), Dullemond & Dominik (2004)
Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y

The energies

Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
g
6
=2
g
5
=1
g
4
=1
g
3
=3
g
2
=1
g
1
=4
E
n
e
r
g
y

Level degeneracies

Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y

Polulating the levels

Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y


Spontaneous
radiative decay
(= line emission)

[sec
-1
]
Einstein A-coefficient (radiative decay rate):

A
4,3
Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y


Line absorption
Einstein B-coefficient (radiative absorption coefficient):

B
3,4

B
3,4
J
3,4
[sec
-1
]

J
3,4
=
1
4t
I(O,v)
3,4
(v)dO
} }
dv
Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y


Stimulated emission
Einstein B-coefficient (stimulated emission coefficient):

B
4,3

B
4,3
J
3,4
[sec
-1
]

J
3,4
=
1
4t
I(O,v)
3,4
(v)dO
} }
dv

Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y

Einstein relations:

B
4,3
= A
4,3
c
2
2hv
3

B
4,3
=
g
3
g
4
B
3,4
Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y


Spontaneous
radiative decay
(= line emission)
can be from any
pair of levels,
provided the transition
obeys selection rules

Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y

E
collision

Collisional excitation
Our atom
free electron
Lines of atoms and molecules
4
3
Example:
a fictive 6-level atom.

2
1
5
6
E
6

E
5

E
4

E
3

E
2

E
1
=0
E
n
e
r
g
y

E
collision

Collisional deexcitation
Our atom
free electron
Example: Protoplanetary Disks
Carr & Najita 2008
What do we learn?

Organic molecules
exist already during
the epoch of planet
formation. Models
of chemistry can tell
us why. Models of
rad. trans. tell us
T
gas
and
gas
.
Lines of atoms and molecules
n
i
is population of level nr i
4
3
At high enough densities the
populations of the levels
are thermalized. This is called
Local Thermodynamic
Equilibrium (LTE). For LTE
the ratio of populations of any
two levels is given by:

n
i
n
k
=
g
i
g
k
e
(E
i
E
k
)/ kT
How to determine the absolute populations?
2
1
5
6
Lines of atoms and molecules
Partition function:
(usually available on databases
on the web in tabulated form)
How to determine the absolute populations?

Z(T) = g
i
e
E
i
/ kT
i

If we know total number of atoms: N

...then we can compute the nr of
atoms N
i
in each level i:

N
i
=
N
Z(T)
g
i
e
E
i
/ kT
Note: Works only under LTE conditions (high enough density)
Using multiple lines for finding T
gas

van Kempen et al. (2010)
Using excitation diagrams to infer T
gas

Martin-Zaidi et al. 2008
What do we learn?

There are clearly
two components
with different gas
temperatures: One
with T=56 K and
one with T=373 K.
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Energy [K]
l
o
g
(
N
/
g
)

Lines of atoms and molecules
Radiative transfer in lines:

j
v
=
hv
4t
n
i
A
ik

ik
(v)

k
v
=
hv
4t
(n
k
B
ki
n
i
B
ik
)
ik
(v)

dI
v
ds
= j
v
k
v
I
v
extinction stimulated emission

(v) =
1
o t
exp
(v v
0
)
2
o
2
|
\

|
.
|
...where the line
profile function is:
Beware of non-LTE!
In this lecture we focused on LTE conditions,
where the level populations can be derived
from the temperature using the partition
function.

In astrophysics we often encounter non-LTE
conditions when the densities are very low
(like in the interstellar medium). Then line
transfer becomes much more complex,
because then the populations must be
computed together with the rad. trans.
Using doppler shift to probe motion

(v) =
1
o t
exp
(v v
0
)
2
o
2
|
\

|
.
|
Line profile without
doppler shift:
Line profile with
doppler shift:

(O,v) =
1
o t
exp
(v v
0
v
0
r
u -
r
O /c)
2
o
2
|
\

|
.
|
Example: Position-velocity diagrams
Motion of neutral hydrogen gas in the Milky Way
Kalberla et al. 2008
Example: Velocity channel maps
From: Alyssa Goodman (CfA Harvard), the COMPLETE survey
Viewing the Omega Nebula (M17) at different velocity channels
Continuum emission/extinction by dust
Atoms in dust grains do not produce lines.
They produce continuum + broad features.
From lecture
Ewine van
Dishoeck
CO ice
CO ice+gas
CO gas
solid CO
2

CO gas
CO gas+ice
CO ice
Dust opacities. Example: silicate
Opacity of amorphous silicate
Example: B68 molecular cloud
Credit: European Southern Observatory
Example: Thermal dust emission M51
Made with the
Herschel Space
Telescope:

Using radiative transfer models
to interpret observational data
I
,in
I
,out

?


Model
cloud
Radiative transfer program
Forward modeling: Model fitting
van Kempen et al. (2010)
I
,in
I
,out

?


Model cloud
Radiative transfer program
Forward modeling: Model fitting
van Kempen et al. (2010)
I
,in
I
,out

?


Model cloud
Radiative transfer program
Got it!
Forward modeling: Model fitting
van Kempen et al. (2010)
Automated fitting

2
Error estimate:

_
2
=
(y
i
obs
y
i
model
)
2
o
i
2
i=1
N

...where
i
is the weight (usually taken to be the uncertainty
in the observation, but can also denote the unimportance
of this measuring value compared to others).
First we need a goodness of fit indicator
Least squares fitting
Automated fitting
Then we need a procedure to scan model-parameter space:
Brute force method
Pontoppidan et al. 2007

2
-contours
Automated fitting
Then we need a procedure to scan model-parameter space:
Brute force method
Pontoppidan et al. 2007

2
-contours
But strong
degeneracy
Best fit
Automated fitting
Then we need a procedure to scan model-parameter space:
For large parameter spaces, better use one of these:

Simulated annealing
Amoeba
MCMC
Genetic algorithms
...
Some useful radiative transfer codes...
Optical/UV of the interstellar medium:
CLOUDY http://www.nublado.org/
Meudon PDR code http://pdr.obspm.fr/PDRcode.html
MOCASSIN http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/people/ercolano/

Dust emission, absorption, scattering:
DUSTY http://www.pa.uky.edu/~moshe/dusty/
MC3D http://www.astrophysik.uni-kiel.de/~star/Classes/MC3D.html
RADMC-3D http://www.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/~dullemond/software/radmc-3d/
Some useful radiative transfer codes...
Infrared and submillimeter lines:
RADEX http://www.sron.rug.nl/~vdtak/radex/radex.php
RATRAN http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~michiel/ratran/
SIMLINE http://hera.ph1.uni-koeln.de/~ossk/Myself/simline.html

Stellar atmosphere codes:
TLUSTY http://nova.astro.umd.edu/
PHOENIX http://www.hs.uni-hamburg.de/EN/For/ThA/phoenix/index.html
More codes on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_photosphere