ExTraSS : a Domain Decomposed 3D NLTE Radiative Transfer spectral synthesis code for nebular phase transients

Abstract In the nebular phase, supernovae are powered by radioactive decay and continuously fade, while their densities have decreased enough such that the expanding nebula becomes (largely) optically thin and the entire structure contributes to the emission. Models for the nebular phase need to take Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) effects into account, while at the same time radiative transfer effects often cannot be ignored. To account for the asymmetric morphologies of SNe, 3D input ejecta models must be used. In this work, we present the ExTraSS (EXplosive TRAnsient Spectral Simulator) code, which has been upgraded to be fully capable of 3D NLTE radiative transfer calculations in order to generate synthetic spectra for explosive transients in the nebular phase, with a focus on supernovae. We solve a long-standing difficulty of 3D NLTE radiative transfer – to manage generation and storage of millions of photoexcitation rates over ≳ 105 of cells – by developing a new Domain Decomposition algorithm. We describe this new methodology and general code operations in detail, and analyse convergence and accuracy for ExTraSS.