The core-saturation method with partial redistribution

Abstract

The core-saturation technique for calculating the radiation field in spectral lines (Rybicki, 1971) is extended to cases where partial redistribution is important. The frequency space is discretized and a general vector equation relating the source function S to the mean intensities is derived. The components of S are then used in a lambda iteration to determine the specific intensities. Numerical tests show that the efficiency and accuracy of this method are maintained.