General derivation of the total electromagnetic cross sections for an arbitrary particle

This work concerns a common problem in electromagnetic scattering; calculation of the total scattering, extinction, and absorption cross sections for an arbitrary particle. Typical expressions for the cross sections are obtained in terms of the vector spherical wave function expansions for the incident and scattered waves. The unique aspect of this work is that the derivation is carried out specifically without use of the far-field zone approximation. The resulting expressions, valid at any distance, exactly match those obtained from the far-field approximation. This demonstrates that the cross sections are independent of the distance from the particle at which they are calculated as one would expect from energy conservation. Numerical simulations of the near and far-field zone energy flows due to a spherical particle are presented to illustrate several implications of this result.