NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
An Efficient Monte Carlo Method for Modeling Radiative Transfer in Protoplanetary DisksMonte Carlo methods have been shown to be effective and versatile in modeling radiative transfer processes to calculate model temperature profiles for protoplanetary disks. Temperatures profiles are important for connecting physical structure to observation and for understanding the conditions for planet formation and migration. However, certain areas of the disk such as the optically thick disk interior are under-sampled, or are of particular interest such as the snow line (where water vapor condenses into ice) and the area surrounding a protoplanet. To improve the sampling, photon packets can be preferentially scattered and reemitted toward the preferred locations at the cost of weighting packet energies to conserve the average energy flux. Here I report on the weighting schemes developed, how they can be applied to various models, and how they affect simulation mechanics and results. We find that improvements in sampling do not always imply similar improvements in temperature accuracies and calculation speeds.
Document ID
20150005913
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Other
External Source(s)
Authors
Kim, Stacy
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
April 17, 2015
Publication Date
August 1, 2011
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
radiative transfer
protostellar disks
star formation
planet formation

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available