[largehadron]

Can somebody explain for me the meaning of « Number of Rays » in Thermal Radiation models and how to choose an appropriate number in different cases? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

[Rami]

Hi largehadron,

The Monte Carlo method used for radiation simulation uses random numerical rays, which issued at boundaries and traced along their path. The more rays used the closer one gets to the exact solution, as the statistical error is approximately proportional to N^(-1.5), where N is the number of rays. The way to determine N is to start wit a small value (say 1e4) and solve, then use a sequence of higher values (say, 1e5, 1e6, ...) and see when you a solution that does not change significantly with further increase of N.

[largehadron]

Thanks Rami for the clear and helpful explanation!