Random-matrix approach to light scattering on complex particles

A monochromatic electromagnetic wave equation is described by the stationary Maxwell equation. The scattering potential is nonzero inside the scatterers and vanishes outside. It contains all the information about the scattering process: (/spl epsi/) is the dielectric coefficient of the medium, /spl sigma/ is the electric conductivity of the medium and /spl mu//sub 0/ is the permeability of the medium. The structure of the differential operator can be represented as 3/spl times/3 matrices. The algebra of these matrices and the fact that the coefficients are symmetric operators reveals a fundamental structure of the light scattering theory. The scattering properties are described within a statistical theory leading also to statistical results.