Path integrals for waves in random media

Abstract

The problem of wave propagation in a random medium is formulated in terms of Feynman’s path integral. It turns out to be a powerful calculational tool. The emphasis is on propagation conditions where the rms (multiple) scattering angle is small but the log‐intensity fluctuations are of order unity—the so‐called saturated regime. It is shown that the intensity distribution is then approximately Rayleigh with calculable corrections. In an isotropic medium, the local or Markov approximation which is commonly used to compute first and second (at arbitrary space–time separation) moments of the wave field is explicitly shown to be valid whenever the rms multiple scattering angle is small. It is then shown that in the saturated regime the third and higher moments can be obtained from the first two by the rules of Gaussian statistics. There are small calculable corrections to the Gaussian law leading to ’’coherence tails.’’ Correlations between waves of different frequencies and the physics of pulse propagation are studied in detail. Finally it is shown that the phenomenon of saturation is physically due to the appearance of many Fermat paths satisfying a perturbed ray equation. For clarity of presentation much of the paper deals with an idealized medium which is statistically homogeneous and isotropic and is characterized by fluctuations of a single typical scale size. However, the extension to inhomogneous, anisotropic, and multiple scale media is given. The main results are summarized at the beginning of the paper.