Diagrammatic and asymptotic approaches to the origins of radiative transport theory: tutorial.

Abstract

The radiative transport equation (RTE) is used widely to describe the propagation of multiply scattered light in disordered media. In this tutorial, we present two derivations of the RTE for scalar wave fields. The first derivation is based on diagrammatic perturbation theory, while the second stems from an asymptotic multiscale expansion. Although the two approaches are quite distinct mathematically, some common ground can be found and is discussed.