Application of jacobi polynomial methods to the one-speed transport equation

The transport equations associated with radiation damage studies are often solved using expansions in Legendre polynomials. The radiation damage distribution functions which satisfy these equations may be sharply peaked in the forward direction, while the Legendre polynomials, as a set, are isotropic. This situation requires the use of many terms in the Legendre expansion in order to adequately represent the distribution functions. The Jacobi polynomials, on the other hand, can have strong peaking built into their associated weight function. To test the usefulness of the Jacobi polynomials we use them to solve the simple, one-speed, neutron transport equation. The results are then compared to the exact theory and to the results of applying Legendre methods to the same problem. This sample calculation demonstrates the advantage of the Jacobi polynomials in strongly non-isotropic situations.