An approximate method for calculating scattering and absorption of light by fractal aggregates

A simplified version of the coupled dipole method (CDM) is proposed which allows one to reduce the initial system of 3N×3N equations to a simpler system of N×N equations. The method neglects depolarization effects in the interaction of dipoles but, unlike the mean field approximation, it takes into account local fluctuations of the scalar amplitudes of the excited dipole moments. Simple analytic solutions are obtained for integrated cross sections averaged over aggregate orientations. It is shown by the example of ballistic fractal aggregates that this method provides the accuracy close to that of a standard CDM, being substantially less time-consuming. In the case of biospheres, the approximate method is compared with the exact results of the multipole expansion.