A metriplectic formulation of polarized radiative transfer

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new metriplectic framework for polarized radiative transfer that inherently respects thermodynamic laws and maintains key physical invariants, enhancing the theoretical understanding of light propagation in complex media.

Contribution

It develops a novel metriplectic formulation for polarized radiative transfer, ensuring thermodynamic consistency and invariance of physical quantities.

Findings

The antisymmetric bracket satisfies the Jacobi identity.

The formulation automatically obeys the first two laws of thermodynamics.

Physical quantities derived from the solution remain invariant under transformation.

Abstract

We present a metriplectic formulation of the radiative transfer equation with polarization and varying refractive index and show that this formulation automatically satisfies the first two laws of thermodynamics. In particular, the derived antisymmetric bracket enjoys the Jacobi identity. To obtain this formulation we suitably transform the equation and show that important physical quantities derived from the solution remain invariant under such a transformation.