Isotropic radiative transfer as a phase space process: Lorentz covariant Green's functions and first-passage times

Abstract

Abstract The solutions of the radiative transfer equation, known for the energy density, do not satisfy the fundamental transitivity property for Green's functions expressed by Chapman-Kolmogorov's relation. I show that this property is retrieved by considering the radiance distribution in phase space. Exact solutions are obtained in one and two dimensions as probability density functions of continous-time persistent random walks, the Fokker-Planck equation of which is the radiative transfer equation. The expected property of Lorentz covariance is verified. I also discuss the measured signal from a pulse source in one dimension, which is a first-passage time distribution, and unveil an effective random delay when the pulse is emitted away from the observer.