Reciprocity principle for radiative transfer models that use periodic boundary conditions

Many numerical models use periodic boundary conditions in solving the radiative transfer through heterogeneous media specified over a fixed domain. A reciprocity principle applicable to solutions from these models is derived for the common situation of a scattering and absorbing heterogeneous medium that is illuminated over the entire domain from a single direction. The derived reciprocity principle states that the domain-averaged bidirectional reflectance distribution function remains invariant when incoming and outgoing directions are interchanged, regardless of the heterogeneity of the medium and the size of the domain. This reciprocity principle provides a simple and useful benchmark test for radiative transfer models that use periodic boundary conditions.