pythonradex: a fast Python re-implementation of RADEX with extended functionality
Abstract
A common task in astronomical research is to estimate the physical parameters (temperature, mass, density etc.) of a gas by using observed line emission.This often requires a calculation of how the radiation propagates via emission and absorption ("radiative transfer").In radio and infrared astronomy, the Fortran code RADEX (van der Tak et al., 2007) is a popular tool to solve the non-LTE radiative transfer of a uniform medium in a simplified geometry.I present a Python re-implementation of RADEX: pythonradex.Written in Python, it provides an easy and intuitive user interface, improved performance as well as additional functionality not included in RADEX (continuum effects and overlapping lines).
Fields of Study & Subjects
Computational Physics and Python Applications
Mathematics
Computing
and Information Processing
Data Analysis with R
Publication details
- Journal / source
- The Journal of Open Source Software
- Publisher
- The Open Journal
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 118
- Pages
- 9233–9233
- Publication date
- 24 February 2026