Polarised radiative transfer angular quadratures

In this paper, we derive a new set of angular quadrature rules that are more suitable for solving 3D RT problems with the short- and long-characteristics formal solvers. These quadratures are more suitable than the currently used ones for the numerical calculation of the radiation field tensors that are relevant in the problem of the generation and transfer of polarised radiation without assuming local thermodynamical equilibrium (non-LTE).

We show that our new quadratures can save up to about 30% of computing time with respect to the Gaussian-trapezoidal product