Monte Carlo discretization of general relativistic radiation transport

Abstract

An indirect, hybrid Monte Carlo discretization of general relativistic kinetic theory suitable for the development of numerical schemes for radiation transport is presented. The discretization is based on surface flux estimators obtained from a local decomposition of the distribution function, and can handle optically thick regions by means of formal solutions within each cell. Furthermore, the scheme is designed for parallel implementation, and it admits the use of adaptive techniques by virtue of leaving all probability density functions unspecified. Some considerations for numerical uses of the scheme are discussed.