The Polarization-Free Approximation Applied to Multi-Level Non-LTE Radiative Transfer
Abstract
The polarization-free (POF) approximation (Trujillo Bueno and Landi Degl'Innocenti, 1996) is capable of accounting for the approximate influence of the magnetic field on the statistical equilibrium, without actually solving the full Stokes vector radiative transfer equation. The method introduces the Zeeman splitting or broadening of the line absorption profile φI in the scalar radiative transfer equation, but the coupling between Stokes I and the other Stokes parameters is neglected. The expected influence of the magnetic field is largest for strongly-split strong lines and the effect is greatly enhanced by gradients in the magnetic field strength. Formally the interaction with the other Stokes parameters may not be neglected for strongly-split strong lines, but it turns out that the error in Stokes I obtained through the POF approximation to a large extent cancels the neglect of interaction with the other Stokes parameters, so that the resulting line source functions and line opacities are more accurate than those obtained with the field-free approach. Although its merits have so far only been tested for a two-level atom, we apply the POF approximation to multi-level non-LTE radiative transfer problems on the premise that there is no essential difference between these two cases. Final verification of its validity in multi-level cases still awaits the completion of a non-LTE Stokes vector transfer code.
- Publication:
-
Solar Physics
- Pub Date:
- March 1996
- DOI:
- 10.1007/BF00146630
- Bibcode:
- 1996SoPh..164..155B
- Keywords:
-
- Line formation;
- Magnetic fields;
- Polarization;
- Radiative transfer;
- Sun: atmosphere;
- Sun: magnetic fields