Radiation Transport along Curved Ray Paths

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Abstract
The transport of radiation in a turbulent, refracting medium is studied. It is shown that the conventional transport equation must be generalized. Path integrals are taken along curved ray trajectories. When these ray paths have torsion, a rotation of the polarization vectors needs to be taken into account. Two derivations of the transport equation are given. One is phenomenological and one is based on Maxwell's equations. Some discussion is given of cross polarization of radar backscatter.