New Methods in Modeling of Hot Stellar Atmospheres

Abstract In the present study we had three main aims. First to study the possibility of reducing the initial model atmosphere data to short analytical polynomials. The second was to use as the depth variable the logarithm of the local gas pressure instead the Rosseland mean. The third aim was to check the applicability of the derived formulae and proposed computation methods to obtain high precision self-consistent results in modeling hot plane-parallel stellar atmospheres. Introducing the dimensionless (reduced) local quantities θ = T/T eff and β = P/P(T eff) it has been shown that for hot convection-free stellar atmospheres the curves log θ versus log β reduce an initial grid of models to simple polynomials and bring forth some general features of the model stellar atmospheres. Even for stellar atmospheres having the convective zones in the deeper atmospheric layers, the outer part of the atmosphere (up to T = T eff and for T eff > 5000 K) can be described in the same manner by curves log θ versus log β as for the hotter stars. Iterative modeling of any hot stellar atmosphere can be started from these formulae (obtained for solar abundances), using rational polynomial ratios for P(T eff), obtaining from these data the needed T versus P dependence. To check suitability of the formulae, the iterative correction of the model stellar atmospheres has been carried out by the traditional Unsöld-Lucy method and by the novel least squares optimization based on Levenberg-Marquardt method, followed by Broyden correction loop. It has been shown that the flux constancy obtained by it is almost 2 dex higher than obtained by the Unsöld-Lucy method. The precision estimators as criteria of the modeling algorithms self-consistency and of the computational precision level have been proposed and used.