Radiative transfer theory for vacuum fluctuations
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
2007-05-23 v2 Quantum Physics
Abstract
A semiclassical kinetic theory is presented for the fluctuating photon flux emitted by a disordered medium in thermal equilibrium. The kinetic equation is the optical analog of the Boltzmann-Langevin equation for electrons. Vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field provide a new source of fluctuations in the photon flux, over and above the fluctuations due to scattering. The kinetic theory in the diffusion approximation is applied to the super-Poissonian noise due to photon bunching and to the excess noise due to beating of incident radiation with the vacuum fluctuations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9907080,
title = {Radiative transfer theory for vacuum fluctuations},
author = {E. G. Mishchenko and C. W. J. Beenakker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9907080},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
4 pages, 2 figures, revised version according to referee's comments