Classical Appucations of Multiple Scattering Theory, an Overview

Extract

It appears that the most salient of the issues that a brief overview might address in this symposium concerns the relationship - the differences, the parallels, and the similarities - between research in classical wave applications of multiple scattering theory and that research whose chief focus is electronic. Each desires the solution to a linear partial differential equation, usually a wave equation such as the Schrodinger equation or Maxwell's equations, in a heterogeneous medium, and each seeks to derive bulk properties from knowledge of the properties of the constituents. As with the Schrodinger equation, Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker like equations are often used for classical waves, and expansions in spherical harmonics and outgoing and regular solutions of the wave equation in the bare medium used to represent the equations. There remain, however, substantial differences in their respective formulations and methodologies. These appear to be traceable, at least in part, to differences in the questions that are asked about the field in the heterogeneous medium, to differences in the prior information available in regard to the microstructure, and to different symmetry classes of the microphysics. It is perhaps these differences which can account for the otherwise rather surprising absence of interaction between researchers in classical applications and those in electronic structure.