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SUMMARY:Radiative transfer in planetary atmospheres:  A Monte Carlo algori
 thm and application to phase curves - Antonio García Muñoz (ESA/ESTEC)
DTSTART:20150603T140000Z
DTEND:20150603T150000Z
UID:TALK58638@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr B.-O. Demory
DESCRIPTION:The interpretation of radiation emerging from planetary atmosp
 heres relies on solutions to the radiative transfer equation (RTE). Monte 
 Carlo integration of the RTE is a valuable approach for its flexible treat
 ment of complex viewing and illumination geometries\, and because it can i
 ntuitively incorporate polarization and other elaborate physics. I will pr
 esent a novel Pre-conditioned Backward Monte Carlo (PBMC) algorithm for so
 lving the vector RTE. As classical BMC methods\, the PBMC algorithm builds
  the solution by simulating the photon trajectories from the detector towa
 rds the radiation source\, i.e. in the reverse order of the actual photon 
 displacements. Pre-conditioning of the scattering matrices introduces a se
 nse of history in the photon polarization states through the simulated tra
 jectories that prevents the numerical instabilities that potentially arise
  in strongly polarizing media. Since the convergence rate for MC integrati
 on is largely independent of the integral’s dimension\, the algorithm is
  a valuable option for estimating the disk-integrated signal of thermal em
 ission and reflected starlight from planets. Such a tool is relevant in th
 e investigation of both exo- and solar system planet phase curves. Example
 s of ongoing work on the investigation of planet phase curves will be pres
 ented.
LOCATION:Martin Ryle Seminar Room\, Kavli Institute
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