Radiative Transfer

Our human perception of the Universe is dominated by electromagnetic radiation. Radiation forms the basis for essentially all astronomical research, including all of the great images reported by observational astronomers. Radiative transport is the foundation for understanding how radiation interacts with matter. Solving the differential equations describing the interaction between radiation and matter is no trivial task. In AMUSE, radiative transfer is addressed numerically using two quite distinct techniques: by photon propagation through a grid, and by Monte Carlo raytracing. These approaches are complementary. In AMUSE, these codes are typically used to determine the temperature and ionization state of the gas. Radiative transfer is expensive in terms of computer time, particularly if the timescales are governed by the hydrodynamics or the gravitational dynamics of the environment.