Radiative transfer modeling of complex dusty structures

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
² Astronomisches Rechen-Institut am Zentrum für Astronomie Heidelberg, Mönchhofstr. 12-14, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Corresponding author: stein@mpia.de

Abstract

This contribution focuses on the current state-of-play in multi-dimensional continuum radiative transfer modeling of gaseous astrophysical media containing dust. The fundamentals of the radiative transfer problem are briefly reviewed. The different solution methods are discussed in terms of applicability, advantages, and error control. To illustrate the problems and requirements for future analysis making use of dust data, two recent transfer models for prominent sources are shown: (i) the silhouette structure SO-1 in M 17 turned out to be the largest circumstellar disk known sofar; (ii) with inverse multi-wavelengths continuum radiative transfer modeling, the full 3D density and temperature structure of the molecular cloud core ρ Oph D could be determined.