Monte Carlo analysis of polarization by Thomson scattering in circumstellar envelopes

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

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Monte Carlo Method, Optical Polarization, Stellar Envelopes, Thomson Scattering, Approximation, Eclipsing Binary Stars, Mean Free Path, Optical Thickness, Rayleigh Scattering

Scientific paper

A Monte Carlo simulation of X-ray and optical polarization by Thomson scattering in ellipsoidal circumstellar envelopes surrounding X-ray sources and young stars is presented. The Monte Carlo procedure developed for Mie scattering on dust (Daniel, 1978) is applied to axially symmetric ellipsoidal envelopes with uniformly spaced scattering particles and a range of optical depths. Results of the simulation are found to be in good agreement with the single scattering approximation of Brown and McLean (1977) for low values of the optical depth, with polarization increasing with optical depth, high mean free path and scattered photons emitted along a quasi-polar direction in oblate ellipsoids and equatorially in prolate ellipsoids; polarization is observed to be reversed at higher values of the optical depth. Variations in ellipticity above a certain value are found to have little effect on polarization, and higher degrees of polarization are favored by oblate ellipsoids. Calculations of the optical polarization of young stars in eclipsing binary systems are also presented which are found to be significantly higher than those observed, indicating the complexity of actual stellar systems.

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