Compton scattering of polarized radiation by a nondegenerate and unpolarized electron gas is examined. Two polarization bases are introduced for pulses of photons: external, connected with the geometry of the medium and internal, connected with a scattering event. Starting with a general relativistic kinetic equation describing the multiple effect of the mechanism taking induced processes into account, it is shown that for describing a stationary, azimuthally independent radiation field in a plane layer, two Stokes parameters for linear polarization are sufficient. The features of the redistribution functions (RF) in frequency and direction are clarified, as well as the rotation angles from internal bases to external ones, and back which arise with forward and backward scattering. An algorithm is proposed for eliminating singularities during azimuthal averaging. The azimuthal averages from the most singular term of the RF are expressed in terms of elliptical integrals of the first kind.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)93-114
Number of pages22
JournalAstrophysics
Volume65
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Mar 2022

    Research areas

  • Compton scattering, frequency redistribution functions, radiative transfer, Stokes parameters

ID: 113870489