Grid of Lya radiation transfer models for the interpretation of distant
  galaxies
  Lya is a key diagnostic for numerous observations of distant star-forming
galaxies. It's interpretation requires, however, detailed radiation transfer
models. We provide an extensive grid of 3D radiation transfer models simulating
the Lya and UV continuum radiation transfer in the interstellar medium of
star-forming galaxies. We have improved our Monte Carlo MCLya code, and have
used it to compute a grid of 6240 radiation transfer models for homogeneous
spherical shells containing HI and dust surrounding a central source. The
simulations cover a wide range of parameter space. We present the detailed
predictions from our models including in particular the Lya escape fraction
fesc, the continuum attenuation, and detailed Lya line profiles. The Lya escape
fraction is shown to depend strongly on dust content, but also on other
parameters (HI column density and radial velocity). The predicted line profiles
show a great diversity of morphologies ranging from broad absorption lines to
emission lines with complex features. The results from our simulations are
distributed in electronic format. Our models should be of use for the
interpretation of observations from distant galaxies, for other simulations,
and should also serve as an important base for comparison for future, more
refined, radiation transfer models.
