Application of the Methods of Quantum Mechanics in the Statistical Theory of Waves in a Fluctuating Medium

Abstract

The basic equations for the statistical system of waves in a randomly fluctuating medium are presented in the same form as in quantum mechanics, assuming a Markov process for the temporal change of the medium. A simple model is chosen for the Fokker-Planck equation of the medium which gives rise to a fluctuation of the Gaussian process, and several results are given to illustrate how the methods used in quantum mechanics or quantum field theory can be applied almost without change. Thus, the physical variables are represented by linear operators, and their equations of motion are determined by an equation similar to the Heisenberg equation of motion. The system has two stationary states (corresponding to the vacuum states (0| and |0) in quantum field theory), and the rather standard methods in field theory can be used for the evaluation of the Green's functions. When the temporal changes of the medium are sufficiently large compared with those of the waves, an adiabatic approximation is possible, and the isomorphic transformation (corresponding to the unitary transformation) is employed to lead to the result that the statistical system of the waves for this model is in perfect correspondence with the waves of bosons which interact with each other only through a two-body potential.