Rabacus: A Python package for analytic cosmological radiative transfer calculations

We describe rabacus, a Python package for calculating the transfer of hydrogen ionizing radiation in simplified geometries relevant to astronomy and cosmology. We present example solutions for three specific cases: (1) a semi-infinite slab gas distribution in a homogeneous isotropic background, (2) a spherically symmetric gas distribution with a point source at the center, and (3) a spherically symmetric gas distribution in a homogeneous isotropic background. All problems can accommodate arbitrary spectra and density profiles as input. The solutions include a treatment of both hydrogen and helium, a self-consistent calculation of equilibrium temperatures, and the transfer of recombination radiation. The core routines are written in Fortran 90 and then wrapped in Python leading to execution speeds thousands of times faster than equivalent routines written in pure Python. In addition, all variables have associated units for ease of analysis. The software is part of the Python Package Index and the source code is available on Bitbucket at https://bitbucket.org/galtay/rabacus. In addition, installation instructions and a detailed users guide are available at http://pythonhosted.org//rabacus.