Radiative Transfer in Star Formation: Testing FLD and Hybrid Methods

TL;DR

This paper compares flux limited diffusion and hybrid radiative transfer methods in star formation simulations, showing the hybrid scheme's superior accuracy in optically thin regions and highlighting FLD's underestimation of radiation pressure in high-mass star formation.

Contribution

The study provides a detailed comparison of FLD and hybrid radiative transfer algorithms against Monte-Carlo results, demonstrating the hybrid scheme's improved performance in specific astrophysical scenarios.

Findings

Hybrid scheme outperforms FLD in optically thin regions.

FLD underestimates radiation pressure by a factor of ~100 in high-mass star formation.

Hybrid and Monte-Carlo results agree closely in optically thick regions.

Abstract

We perform a comparison between two radiative transfer algorithms commonly employed in hydrodynamical calculations of star formation: grey flux limited diffusion and the hybrid scheme, in addition we compare these algorithms to results from the Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code MOCASSIN. In disc like density structures the hybrid scheme performs significantly better than the FLD method in the optically thin regions, with comparable results in optically thick regions. In the case of a forming high mass star we find the FLD method significantly underestimates the radiation pressure by a factor of ~100.