A New Method for Modeling Optical Depth Effects in Cometary Emission Lines

Details A New Method for Modeling Optical Depth Effects in Cometary Emission Lines A New Method for Modeling Optical Depth Effects in Cometary Emission Lines

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.1613g&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #16.13; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.413

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We create a model of the carbon monoxide IR spectra of a cometary coma including optical depth effects using Coupled Escape Probability (CEP), a new exact method for line radiative transfer solutions (see Elitzur & Asensio Ramos, 2005).
In the CEP method a plane parallel atmosphere is divided into vertical "zones". Each zone's distribution of fractional populations in molecular energy levels is determined using statistical equilibrium. All the zones are coupled through terms resembling escape probability expressions, which encapsulate the self-radiation due to scattering and absorption between zones. This enables a self-consistent solution for the line radiation produced even in optically thick cases.
We have implemented the CEP approach to calculate the line emission of the CO IR 1-0 ro-vibrational spectra, for arbitrary conditions such as those found in cometary comae.
The coma itself is modeled using numerical integration of the expanding coma gas from the nucleus outwards (see, e.g. Chin & Weaver, 1984.)
Our model of the coma uses the CEP method for integrating CO emission throughout the coma in a piecewise manner which yields a model spectra for any observed line of sight through the coma.
We have constructed spectral "maps" of the coma of comet Tempel-1 in various frequencies, corresponding to observations during the approach and impact of the Deep Impact mission. These are compared with the actual Deep Impact observations to better understand the coma composition.

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