Solar Photon Random Walk DocumentsThis material has 4 associated documents. Select a document title to view a document's information. Main DocumentSolar Photon Random Walk
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Drew Onken The Solar Photon Random Walk Model simulates the path of photons in radiative transport as they escape from the Sun. Photons do not travel in a straight line, but rather collide with larger particles and get redirected in a fashion. This simulation models that process using a random walk in polar coordinates. The step size for this random walk are determined by the mean free path, the average distance the photon will travel before colliding with another particle. This mean free path (l) is equal to the inverse of the product of the density (p) and the opacity (k): l = 1/(k*p). The density and opacity of the Sun are not constant throughout, but rather change at different distances from the center. However, these values are not agreed upon among the scientific community. Using different values of the mean free path, physicists give the average escape time of photons anywhere from between 100,000 years and 1,000,000 years. As a result, the program was designed not only to take into account a few different physicists' values (both average and linearly decreasing values) but it also allows the user to input their own values.
Last Modified June 12, 2014
This file has previous versions. Supplemental Documents (2)Solar Photon Random Walk Statistics ModelThis model adds the feature of running numerous photons and compiling average statistics for these photons.
Published July 26, 2011
Solar Photon Random Walk PosterPoster describing the Solar Photon Random Walk Model given as part of the Computational Physics class at Davidson College
Published July 26, 2011
This file is included in the full-text index. Source Code DocumentsSolar Photon Random Walk Source CodeSource Code for the Solar Photon Random Walk program.
Released under a This material is released under the GNU General Public License Version 3.
Published July 26, 2011
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