Diffusion of Wave Packets for the Markov Schroedinger Equation

-
Jeff Schenker, Courant Institute
Jadwin Hall A06

The long time evolution of waves in a homogeneous random environment will be discussed. Proving that the wave amplitude evolves diffusively over any sufficiently long time scales remains an open problem. One obstacle that arises is recurrence -- return of portions of the wave packet to regions previously visited. However, if one removes recurrence by allowing the environment to evolve randomly in time, then diffusion of the wave amplitude can be proved in a relatively simple fashion.