Comparison of distribution functions from scattering data on different sets of spheres

Abstract

We compare certain reduced data records for scattering of 5-mm electromagnetic waves by two sets of Styrofoam spheres of different diameter, moving randomly within a slab-region Styrofoam container. For the small spheres we summarize raw measurements for the forward scattered coherent phase, for the average intensities, and for the variances and covariance of phase-quadrature components of the instantaneous field; analogous results for the large spheres were given previously [1]. The emphasis is on the relative behavior of the two sets of reduced data records obtained by using scattering theory to eliminate sphere size, etc., from the original data. In particular, we compare appropriate, reduced data with statistical mechanics approximations for the "hard sphere gas" in order to delineate differences, and to indicate that the analytical procedures developed for the "dynamical gas model" may be applied to isolate the analogous functions for naturally occurring distributions.