Plasma Configuration

The plasma configuration gives TARDIS the necessary information to calculate the plasma state (see Plasma):

type	object
properties
initial_t_inner	initial temperature of the inner boundary black body. If set to -1 K will result in automatic calculation of boundary
	type	quantity
	default	-1 K
initial_t_rad	initial radiative temperature in all cells. If set to -1 K will result in automtatic calculation of the initial temperatures
	type	quantity
	default	-1 K
disable_electron_scattering	disable electron scattering process in montecarlo part - non-physical only for tests
	type	boolean
	default	False
disable_line_scattering	disable line scattering process in montecarlo part - non-physical only for tests
	type	boolean
	default	False
ionization	ionization treatment mode
	type	string
	enum	nebular, lte
excitation	excitation treatment mode
	type	string
	enum	lte, dilute-lte
radiative_rates_type	radiative rates treatment mode
	type	string
	enum	dilute-blackbody, detailed, blackbody
line_interaction_type	line interaction mode
	type	string
	enum	scatter, downbranch, macroatom
w_epsilon	w to use when j_blues get numerically 0. - avoids numerical complications
	type	number
	default	1e-10
delta_treatment	In the saha calculation set delta equals to the number given in this configuration item. if set to None (default), normal delta treatment (as described in Mazzali & Lucy 1993) will be applied
	type	number
nlte	type	object
	default
	properties
	species	Species that are requested to be NLTE treated in the format [‘Si 2’, ‘Ca 1’, etc.]
		type	array
		default
	coronal_approximation	set all jblues=0.0
		type	boolean
		default	False
	classical_nebular	sets all beta_sobolevs to 1
		type	boolean
		default	False
	additionalProperties	False
continuum_interaction	type	object
	default
	properties
	species	Species that are requested to be treated with continuum interactios (radiative/collisional ionization and recombination) in the format [‘Si II’, ‘Ca I’, etc.]
		type	array
		default
	enable_adiabatic_cooling	enables adiabatic cooling of the electron gas
		type	boolean
		default	False
	enable_two_photon_decay	enables two photon decay processes
		type	boolean
		default	False
	additionalProperties	False
helium_treatment	none to treat He as the other elements. recomb-nlte to treat with NLTE approximation.
	type	string
	enum	none, recomb-nlte, numerical-nlte
	default	none
heating_rate_data_file	Path to file containing heating rate/light curve data.
	type	string
	default	none
additionalProperties	False

inital_t_inner is initial temperature (will be updated for most modes of TARDIS — see convergence section) of the black-body on the inner boundary. initial_t_rad is the initial radiation temperature (will be updated for most modes of TARDIS - see convergence section). For debugging purposes and to compare to synapps calculations one can disable the electron scattering. TARDIS will issue a warning that this is not physical. There are currently two plasma_type options available: nebular and lte, which tell TARDIS how to run the ionization equilibrium and level population calculations (see Plasma for more information). The radiative rates describe how to calculate the \(J_\textrm{blue}\) needed for the NLTE treatment calculations and Macro Atom calculations. There are three options for radiative_rates_type:

1) lte, in which \(J_\textrm{blue} = \textrm{Blackbody}(T_\textrm{rad})\)

2) nebular in which \(J_\textrm{blue} = W \times \textrm{Blackbody}(T_\textrm{rad})\)

3) detailed in which the \(J_\textrm{blue}\) are calculated using an estimator (this is described in Volume-based Monte Carlo Estimators).

TARDIS currently supports three different kinds of line interaction: scatter — a resonance scattering implementation, macroatom — the most complex form of line interaction described in Macro Atom and downbranch a simplified version of macroatom in which only downward transitions are allowed (see Line Interaction Treatments).

Finally, w_epsilon describes the dilution factor to use to calculate \(J_\textrm{blue}\) that are 0, which causes problems with the code (so \(J_\textrm{blue}\) are set to a very small number).

NLTE

nlte:
    coronal_approximation: True
    classical_nebular: False

The NLTE configuration currently allows setting coronal_approximation, which sets all \(J_\textrm{blue}\) to 0. This is useful for debugging with chianti for example. Furthermore, one can enable ‘classical_nebular’ to set all \(\beta_\textrm{Sobolev}\) to 1. Both options are used for checking with other codes and should not be enabled in normal operations.