--- In cloudy_simulations@yahoogroups.com, "Gary J. Ferland" <gjferland@...>
wrote:
>
> We might cut to the chase and look at the Lya destruction rates. This is
> column 9 of the punch hydrogen lya command. What does Lya destruction vs
> depth look like for the three different versions?
>

Gary and Ryan,

So if you've taken look at the 3 recent plots (Lya_Fe_xxx.ps) that
Doug Edmonds has posted, there are enormous differences in the Lya
destruction structure and amplitude for the 3 models. And as you say,
there are indeed important Lya pumping channels lying at levels above
the 371 level atom, and so things would change again.

A conclusion I draw from this is that any neutral whose ion fraction
structure depends strongly on the radiative transfer of Lya (and its
interaction with FeII) is at present very uncertain, with regards to
both column density and emission. Is that an accurate assessment?

(This uncertainty will also affect the hydrogen n=2 optical
depths....)