First 3D radiative transfer with scattering for domain-decomposed MHD simulations

This paper presents an implementation of the Gauss–Seidel solver for radiative transfer with scattering in the Oslo Stagger Code. It fully supports MPI parallelism through domain decomposition of the simulation box, enabling fast computation of radiative transfer at a high resolution. Continuum and line opacities are treated with either a multigroup method or opacity sampling. Line scattering probabilities are estimated using the van Regemorter approximation for de-excitation rates of electron collisions. A solar-type test simulation with continuum and line scattering exhibits a steeper temperature gradient due to decreased radiative heating above the optical surface when compared with the strict local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) case. The classical van Regemorter approximation may overestimate the importance of line scattering, implying that the true temperature structure will be in between the LTE case and the scattering case considered here. It is demonstrated that continuum scattering is unimportant in the case of the Sun.