Photon transport in a time-dependent interstellar cloud

Photon transport is studied in an interstellar cloud occupying a time-dependent region V(t) subset of R-3. First, under the assumption that the surface partial derivative V(t) is a known function of t is an element of [0, t(max)], a direct problem is set and proof of well-posedness is sketched. Then, an inverse problem is examined, under the assumptions that the time behaviour of partial derivative V(t) is unknown and the photon distribution function is measured at a location far from the cloud. Some numerical experiments are then provided. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.