An Eulerian method for capturing caustics (Q1577028)

The classical method to compute caustics is to trace rays by solving the characteristic equations for the given Hamiltonian; caustic points are defined by the vanishing of the geometrical spreading of ray tubes. Alternatively, one may consider the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi equation for the phase. However, the two approaches are equivalent only in the absence of caustics, as otherwise the Hamilton-Jacobi equations possesses only weak global solutions, the so-called viscosity solutions, and the phase becomes in general a multi-valued function. After demonstrating this problem on some examples, the authors propose a new method for determining caustic points using the Hamilton-Jacobi approach. The main idea is a transformation of the time variable, a rescaling based on the geometrical spreading. The solution will now reach caustic points only asymptotically or it will become stationary there. This ensures that the viscosity solution cannot generate artificial rays. The inverse transformation leads to an additional transport equation that must be added to the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. The authors apply their approach in some concrete numerical examples ranging from 1D to 3D.