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arXiv · cond-mat/9903020

Diffusion of particles moving with constant speed

S. Anantha Ramakrishna·N. Kumar
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Abstract

The propagation of light in a scattering medium is described as the motion of a special kind of a Brownian particle on which the fluctuating forces act only perpendicular to its velocity. This enforces strictly and dynamically the constraint of constant speed of the photon in the medium. A Fokker-Planck equation is derived for the probability distribution in the phase space assuming the transverse fluctuating force to be a white noise. Analytic expressions for the moments of the displacement $ $ along with an approximate expression for the marginal probability distribution function $P(x,t)$ are obtained. Exact numerical solutions for the phase space probability distribution for various geometries are presented. The results show that the velocity distribution randomizes in a time of about eight times the mean free time ($8t^*$) only after which the diffusion approximation becomes valid. This factor of eight is a well known experimental fact. A persistence exponent of $0.435 \pm 0.005$ is calculated for this process in two dimensions by studying the survival probability of the particle in a semi-infinite medium. The case of a stochastic amplifying medium is also discussed.

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S. Anantha Ramakrishna, N. Kumar. 1999-03-01. Diffusion of particles moving with constant speed. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.60.1381

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