Radiative Transfer as a Sum over Paths
J. Tessendorf
January, 1987
Physical Review A, vol 35, no. 2, 872-878 (1987)
The radiative-transfer equation describes the collection of path taken by an element of radiation as it travels from one location to another. When backscatter can be ignored, the exact solution is constructed as a formal sum (path integral) over all such paths. In the appropriate limit the usual (diffusive) small-angle solution and the multiple scattering solution can be obtained. Another small-angle solution has also been found which includes some of the nonlinear and large-angle behavior not present in the diffusive solution. After several attenuation lengths, length scales are characterized by a parameter constructed our of the absorption and scattering coefficients, and the rms scattering angle per scattering event. The two solutions are compared i n the case of a point beam.