Photon Scattering in 3D Radiative MHD Simulations

摘要

Recent results from 3D time-dependent radiative hydrodynamic simulations of stellar atmospheres are presented, which include the effects of coherent scattering in the radiative transfer treatment. Rayleigh scattering and electron scattering are accounted for in the source function, requiring an iterative solution of the transfer equation. Opacities and scattering coefficients are treated in the multigroup opacity approximation. The impact of scattering on the horizontal mean temperature structure is investigated, which is an important diagnostic for model atmospheres, with implications for line formation and stellar abundance measurements. We find that continuum scattering is not important for the atmosphere of a metal-poor Sun with metallicity [Fe/H]=-3.0, similar to the previously investigated photosphere at solar metallicity.