Curvature effects in extended stellar atmospheres ? Pure absorption

Abstract

The effects of curvature in an atmosphere with pure absorption are investigated. Numerical solution of the transfer equation has been obtained in the framework of the Discrete Space Theory of Radiative Transfer. Two cases have been considered: (a) the atmosphere is irradiated at the bottom and there is no incident radiation at the top of the atmosphere; and (b) no radiation is incident on either side of the atmosphere. It is found that the thermal sources inside the atmosphere dominantly influence the emergent radiation and this is very much so, in the spherical case and for large optical thickness. The emergent luminosities increase with the geometrical thickness although the emergent specific intensities are reduced and the former seems to be because of the larger surface area and later seems to be because of the effects of curvature.