Analytical Solution of Radiative Transfer Using Cumulant Expansion

Radiative transfer describes light propagation in a turbid medium, where photons suffer multiple scattering by randomly distributed scatterers in the medium. The kinetic equation governing photon propagation is the classic Boltzmann transport equation. The search for an analytical solution of the time-dependent elastic Boltzmann transport equation has lasted for many years. Besides being considered as a classic problem in fundamental research in statistical dynamics, the study of analytical solution of this equation has applications in a broad variety of fields from astrophysics, to geophysics, remote sensing, and medicine.