Propagation of light: Coherent or Monte-Carlo computation ?

Abstract

Wrong Monte-Carlo computations are used to study the propagation of light in low pressure gas of nebulae. We recall that the incoherent interactions required for Monte Carlo calculations and hindering coherent interactions are due to collisions that disappear at low pressure. Incoherent interactions blur the images while coherent do not. We introduce coherent optical effects or substitute them for Monte Carlo calculations in published papers, improving the results and avoiding the introduction of "new physics". The spectral radiance of novae has the magnitude of the radiance of lasers, and large column densities are available in the nebulae. Several types of coherent interactions (superradiance, multiphoton effects, etc..), well studied using lasers, work in nebulae as in laboratories. The relatively thin shell of plasma containing atoms around a Strômgren sphere is superradiant, so that the limb of the sphere is seen as a circle which may be dotted into an even number of "pearls". The superradiant beams induce a multiphotonic scattering of the light rays emitted by the star, improving the brightness of the limb and darkening the star. Impulsive Stimulated Raman Scatterings (ISRS) in excited atomic hydrogen shift the frequencies of electromagnetic waves: UV-X lines of the Sun are red- or blue-shifted, the microwaves exchanged with the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes are blueshifted (no anomalous acceleration needed), the far stars are redshifted. Without any "new physics", coherent spectroscopy works as a magic stick to explain many observations.