Entropy of radiation emitted into space

Ok, so here is my answer to my own question:

Of the three options I presented in the question, the answer is 1: the emission of radiation into space is actually an irreversible process. At first I couldn't see how this could be the case, because the transfer of energy from the hot body to the outgoing radiation field doesn't involve a change in temperature, so it seemed like it should be reversible. What I had failed to consider is that the body interacts not only with the outgoing radiation field, but also with the incoming one (i.e. the cosmic microwave background in the case of a star.)

A useful metaphor is a heat exchanger, in which a pipe enters carrying cold water (temperature $T_C$), which is placed in contact with a body at a higher temperature $T_H$ until it equilibriates. Another pipe carries the warm water out.

Although the outgoing fluid is at the same temperature as the solid body, it is clear that this is an irreversible process. The entropy is produced not in the transporting away of warm water at $T_H$ but in the heating of water from $T_C$ to $T_H$.

A star may be seen as an analogous kind of "cosmic heat exchanger". In this case we have to imagine a small volume of space containing a small amount of cosmic microwave background energy at $3\:\mathrm{K}$ coming into contact with the star and being heated up to $6000\:\mathrm{K}$, and then moving away again.

These volumes of space should be thought of as moving at the speed of light. As with the heat exchanger, the transporting of the $6000\:\mathrm{K}$ radiation away from the star is a reversible process, but the "heating up of space" from $3\:\mathrm{K}$ to $6000\:\mathrm{K}$ is irreversible and produces entropy.

In my question I asked what would happen if this radiation were absorbed by a colder body, since it seems as if the entropy can decrease. For example, if $U$ Joules of thermal radiation at $4000\:\mathrm{K}$ (with entropy $\frac{4}{3}\cdot\frac{U}{4000} = \frac{U}{3000}\:\mathrm{JK^{-1}}$) were absorbed by a body at $3500\:\mathrm{K}$ then the body's entropy would increase by only $\frac{U}{3500}\:\mathrm{JK^{-1}}$ and it seems like the total entropy must have decreased. But if the second body can absorb all the radiation then it must be a black body, and hence it must emit black body radiation of its own according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law at a rate $A\sigma T^4$ (with A its surface area and $\sigma$ the Stefan-Boltzmann constant). It turns out that when you take the entropy of this outgoing radiation into account, the total entropy production is always positive. (Unless the absorbing/emitting body is at the same temperature as the radiation field, in which case it is zero, as we should expect in the case of thermal equilibrium.) This is like a heat exchanger operating the other way, with warm water coming into contact with a cold body, and cold water running out. If you forgot to take into account the entropy of the cold water it might seem as if the total entropy was decreasing.

Finally I should say why my argument about the outgoing radiation not doing work against a piston doesn't work. Imagine the following thought experiment. First we reversibly fill a piston with thermal radiation as described in the question. Then we make a small hole in the cylinder and let that radiation escape into space. This escaping radiation is exactly the same as black body radiation. The entropy of the radiation in the cylinder cannot decrease as it goes through the hole, and hence its entropy flux must be at least $\frac{4}{3}\frac{u}{T}$.

Let us consider a leaky container of black body radiation. The process of radiation leaking out has been reversed when the leaked radiation has been collected in a container that is the same size as the original container. The radiation can be directed towards the collecting container using mirrors. But all of the radiation can not be catched into the container, unless there is a Maxwell's demon kind of thing opening and closing some kind of door. (because photons arrive at different times)

It seems that all of the entropy of black body radiation is caused by photons having different creation times, because if there was no difference of creation times, the radiation process could be reversed.