We consider several types of scaling limits for the Wigner-Moyal equation of the parabolic waves in random media, the limiting cases of which include the standard radiative transfer limit, the geometrical-optics limit and the white-noise limit. We show under fairly general assumptions on the random refractive index field that sufficient amount of medium diversity (thus excluding the white-noise limit) leads to statistical stability or self-averaging in the sense that the limiting law is deterministic and is governed by one of the 6 different types of transport (Boltzmann or Fokker-Planck) equations depending on the specific scaling involved. We discuss the connection to the statistical stability of time-reversal procedure and the decoherence effect in quantum mechanics.
Communicated by G. Milton
Acknowledgement The research is supported in part by The Centennial Fellowship from American Mathematical Society, the UC Davis Chancellor
s Fellowship and National Science Foundation grant no. DMS-0306659.