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10.7: References and Supplemental Reading

  • Page ID
    141669
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    1. Chandrasekhar, S.: Radiative Transfer, Dover, New York, 1960, pp. 54 -68.
    2. Kurucz, R.L.: ATLAS: A Computer Program for Calculating Model Stellar Atmospheres, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Special Report 309, 1970.
    3. Mihalas, D.: Stellar Atmospheres, 2d ed., W.H.Freeman, San Francisco, 1978, pp. 250 - 255.
    4. Schmid-Burgk, J.: Radiative Transfer through Spherical-Symmetric Atmospheres and Shells, Astron. & Astrophy. 40, 1975, pp. 249 - 255.

    Virtually every book about stellar atmospheres provides an introduction to the subject that is worth perusing. Some are more valuable than others in providing insight into the physics of the atmosphere. In the area of radiative transfer, the definitive mathematical treatise is still

    Chandrasekhar, S.: Radiative Transfer, Dover, New York 1960.

    However, students should not try to read this work until they have gained considerable familiarity with the problem. One of the clearest and most comprehensive descriptions of the gray atmosphere and various methods of solution of the radiative transfer problem is found in

    Kourganoff, V.: Basic Methods in Transfer Problems - Radiative Equilibrium and Neutron Diffusion, Dover, New York, 1963, pp.86 - 125.

    An extremely complete discussion of Λ-operators is given in this same reference (pp. 40 - 85). Dimitri Mihalas provides a good description of the gray atmosphere in both editions of his book on stellar atmospheres, but of the two, I prefer the first edition;

    Mihalas, D.:Stellar Atmospheres, 1st ed., W.H.Freeman, San Francisco, 1970, pp.34 -66.

    For a lucid discussion of the relative merits of solutions to the integral equations of radiative transfer, see

    Kalkofen, W. A Comparison of Differential and Integral Equations of Radiative Transfer, J. Quant. Spectrosc. & Rad. Trans. 14, 1974, pp. 309 - 316.

    For a general background of the subject as considered by some of the finest minds of the twentieth century, everyone should spend some time eading Selected Papers on the Transfer of Radiation, edited by D. H. Menzel (Dover, New York, 1966). All these papers are of landmark quality, but I found this one to be most rewarding and somewhat humbling: Schuster, A.:Radiation through a Foggy Atmosphere, Ap.J. 21, 1905 pp.1 - 22,

    It is clear that Arthur Schuster identified and understood most of the important aspects of scattering theory in radiative transfer without the benefit of the work of the rest of the twentieth century that is available to the contemporary student of physics. Much of the work on neutron diffusion theory deals with the same mathematical formalisms that serve radiative transfer theory, and we should be ever mindful of the physics literature on that subject if we are to appreciate the full breadth of the nature of the problems posed by the flow of radiation through the outer layers of stars. Finally, it would be a mistake to ignore the substantial contribution from the Russian school of radiative transfer theory. Perhaps the finest example of their efforts can be found in

    Sobolev, V. V.:A Treatise on Radiative Transfer,(Trans. S. I. Gaposchkin), Van Nostrand, Princeton, N.J., 1963.

    The approaches described in this book are insightful, novel, and particularly useful in dealing with some of the more advanced problems of radiative transfer.


    This page titled 10.7: References and Supplemental Reading is shared under a Public Domain license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George W. Collins II (Pachart Foundation) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.