Operator methods for time-dependent waves in random media with applications to the case of random particles

Abstract

The random medium is represented by the operator, constructed from the characteristic functional of the medium, and this representation is shown to considerably facilitate the formulation of various equations of waves in random media, as well as obtaining the physical insight into the equations. A specific application is made to waves in the medium of random particles, and the equations obeyed by the characteristic functional of wave are derived with the aid of the effective medium method. Here, the optical condition is exhibited by the condition of an operator in space and time. Independent of this operator method, the general theory is extended, in an unperturbative way, for the equations of the second-order coherence functions, being given in form of the Bethe–Salpeter equation, and the coherent potential equations are formulated for the basic matrices of two kinds appeared in the equations. The explicit expressions of these matrices are obtained, on utilizing the coherent potential approximation, and are shown to be exactly the same as those obtained by the effective medium method, in both cases of weak-scattering limit and of random particles. Finally, on employing the appropriate Fourier representations in space and time, the theory is presented in a few different forms, one being particularly suited to derive the equations of multifrequency coherence functions.