On the propagation and scattering of light in fluids

Abstract

A new theory of propagation and scattering of light in fluids is formulated. The analysis is based on a resummation of the Kirkwood-Yvon series expansion for the dielectric constant. The resummation is equivalent to a renormalization procedure recently proposed by Bedeaux and Mazur in which vacuum propagators are replaced by propagators corresponding to a continuum with dielectric constant given by the Lorentz-Lorenz formula. It is shown that the phenomenological Einstein formula for the differential scattering cross section follows naturally from the theory.