Anomalous diffusivity and localization of classical waves in disordered media: The effect of dissipation

It is argued that, contrary to assertions in the literature, absorption does not provide a cutoff length analogous to an inelastic scattering length for the renormalization of wave transport in a multiply scattering medium. The argument is supported with numerical experiments. A reconciliation between this evidence and the conventional understanding is effected. The error in the latter is identified.