A multiple scattering theory for EM wave propagation in a dense random medium

For a dense medium of randomly distributed scatterers an integral formulation for the total coherent field has been developed. This formulation accounts for the multiple scattering of electromagnetic waves including both the twoand three-particle terms. It is shown that under the Markovian assumption the total coherent field and the effective field have the same effective wave number. As an illustration of this theory, the effective wave number and the extinction coefficient are derived in terms of the polarizability tensor and the pair distribution function for randomly distributed small spherical scatterers. It is found that the contribution of the three-particle term increases with the particle size, the volume fraction, the frequency and the permittivity of the particle. This increase is more significant with frequency and particle size than with other parameters.