A Reciprocal Formulation of Nonexponential Radiative Transfer. 2: Monte Carlo Estimation and Diffusion Approximation

Abstract

When lifting the assumption of spatially-independent scattering centers in classical linear transport theory, collision rate is no longer proportional to angular flux/radiance because the macroscopic cross-section depends on the distance s to the previous collision or boundary. This creates a nonlocal relationship between collision rate and flux and requires revising a number of familiar deterministic and Monte Carlo methods. We generalize collision and track-length estimators to support unbiased estimation of either flux integrals or collision rates in generalized radiative transfer (GRT). To provide benchmark solutions for the Monte Carlo estimators, we derive the four Green’s functions for the isotropic point source in infinite media with isotropic scattering. Additionally, new moment-preserving diffusion approximations for these Green’s functions are derived, which reduce to algebraic expressions involving the first four moments of the free-path lengths between collisions.