COHERENT BACKSCATTERING VERIFIED NUMERICALLY FOR A FINITE VOLUME OF SPHERICAL PARTICLES
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Haellstroemin katu 2a, FI-00014 U. Helsinki (Finland)
- NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025 (United States)
- Main Astronomical Observatory, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 27 Zabolotny Street, 03680 Kyiv (Ukraine)
- Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD 20783 (United States)
We consider electromagnetic scattering by a spherical volume sparsely and randomly populated by spherical particles of equal size and optical properties. The far-field scattering matrix of the entire volume is computed using an exact method and an approximate method. The former is a direct computer solver of the Maxwell equations called the superposition T-matrix method (STMM). The latter is a solver based on numerical Monte Carlo integration of the ladder and cyclical diagrams appearing in the microphysical theory of radiative transfer and coherent backscattering (RT-CB). The quantitative agreement between the STMM and RT-CB computations provides verification of the RT-CB theory. Prominent backscattering features exhibited by the STMM data cannot be reproduced by keeping only the ladder diagrams of RT. Our results strongly support the CB explanation of opposition brightness and polarization phenomena observed for a class of atmosphereless solar-system objects. Further research is necessary to determine the range of quantitative applicability of the RT-CB theory to densely packed particulate media.
- OSTI ID:
- 22086237
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 760, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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