SEURAT: SPH scheme extended with ultraviolet line radiative transfer

Abstract

We present a novel Lyman alpha (Ly$α$) radiative transfer code, SEURAT, where line scatterings are solved adaptively with the resolution of the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). The radiative transfer method implemented in SEURAT is based on a Monte Carlo algorithm in which the scattering and absorption by dust are also incorporated. We perform standard test calculations to verify the validity of the code; (i) emergent spectra from a static uniform sphere, (ii) emergent spectra from an expanding uniform sphere, and (iii) escape fraction from a dusty slab. Thereby we demonstrate that our code solves the Ly$α$ radiative transfer with sufficient accuracy. We emphasise that SEURAT can treat the transfer of Ly$α$ photons even in highly complex systems that have significantly inhomogeneous density fields. The high adaptivity of SEURAT is desirable to solve the propagation of Ly$α$ photons in the interstellar medium of young star-forming galaxies like Ly$α$ emitters (LAEs). Thus, SEURAT provides a powerful tool to model the emergent spectra of Ly$α$ emission, which can be compared to the observations of LAEs.

11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS