Quantum Corrections on the Radiative Transfer Equation

Abstract

The quantum phase space formalism proposed by Wigner is applied to radiation transport problems. It is shown that a generalization of the radiative transfer equation, which accounts for coherence effects, can be obtained within the second quantization formalism. A simplification in the case of stationary medium and slab geometry is considered and applied to low- and high-density plasmas. The obtained results indicate that spectra can be misinterpreted if the light's spatial coherence is neglected.