Inference of nebular density and luminosity structure from polarization maps
Abstract
The problem of deriving the structure of circumstellar nebulae from polarimetric maps is discussed as a process of deconvolving the nebular structure from the observed distribution of Stokes' parameters on the sky. The basic formulation and assumptions involved in the arbitrary scattering mechanism are described in an attempt to determine the nebular geometry, and it is shown how an inverse solution can be obtained for any scattering function by means of an integral moment representation. The equations involved are of the Volterra type; the kernels depend on the nature of the spherical scatterers. In the particular case of Rayleigh scattering, it is found that the equations can be reduced to Abel's integral equation for which the analytic inversion formula is well known. The solutions, in both cases include emission as well as scattering of light by the nebula.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 1982
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/201.3.735
- Bibcode:
- 1982MNRAS.201..735B
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Models;
- Luminosity;
- Nebulae;
- Space Density;
- Integral Equations;
- Light Scattering;
- Polarimetry;
- Rayleigh Scattering;
- Scattering Functions;
- Spatial Distribution;
- Temperature Distribution;
- Velocity Distribution;
- Astrophysics