Line blanketing without local thermodynamic equilibrium. II - A solar-type model in radiative equilibrium

A statistical solution for the problem of non-LTE radiative transfer in the millions of atomic transitions responsible for line blanketing is proposed which takes into account the influence of scattering on the atomic populations. A multifrequency/multigray algorithm is used to analyze the thermal equilibrium. Although CO is shown to cool the upper atmosphere to a boundary temperature of 2640 K, the molecule has little influence in the region of the solar temperature minimum.