Dynamic Monte Carlo radiation transfer in SPH. Radiation pressure force implementation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new radiation hydrodynamics simulation framework combining SPH gas dynamics with a Monte Carlo radiation transfer method focused on radiation pressure, addressing stochastic noise challenges.

Contribution

It develops a novel Monte Carlo-based radiation transfer approach integrated with SPH, capable of handling multiple sources and complex geometries without fundamental limitations.

Findings

Errors can be accurately estimated via Poisson noise fluctuations.

Photon packet momentum must be much smaller than SPH particle momentum for accuracy.

The method effectively models radiation pressure in diverse astrophysical systems.

Abstract

We present a new framework for radiation hydrodynamics simulations. Gas dynamics is modelled by the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method, whereas radiation transfer is simulated via a time-dependent Monte-Carlo approach that traces photon packets. As a first step in the development of the method, in this paper we consider the momentum transfer between radiation field and gas, which is important for systems where radiation pressure is high. There is no fundamental limitations on the number of radiation sources, geometry or the optical depth of the problems that can be studied with the method. However, as expected for any Monte-Carlo transfer scheme, stochastic noise presents a serious limitation. We present a number of tests that show that the errors of the method can be estimated accurately by considering Poisson noise fluctuations in the number of photon packets that SPH particles interact with per dynamical time. It is found that for a reasonable accuracy the momentum carried by photon packets must be much smaller than a typical momentum of SPH particles. We discuss numerical limitations of the code, and future steps that can be taken to improve performance and applicability of the method.