 Coherent wave field

In wave propagation in a random medium, the coherent field is the expectation of the complex wave amplitude, $m(\mathbf{r})=\mathbb{E}[E(\mathbf{r})]$. The remaining field $E-m$ has zero expectation. This is the coherent and diffuse wave fields decomposition. Statistical homogeneity of the medium does not make $m$ spatially constant when the incident field is localized: translation symmetry applies to the response together with its incident data. The coherent component can attenuate while the total ensemble-averaged wave intensity remains substantial.