Representation of the scattering kernel for the elastic wave equation and singularities of the back-scattering (Q2367028)

The author gives a representation of the scattering operator for the elastic wave equation in both odd and even dimensions and examines the singular support of the associated scattering kernel. We recall that the elastic wave equation for scattering in the exterior \(\Omega\) of a smooth compact surface \(\partial \Omega\) takes the form \[ \biggl( \partial^ 2_ t- \sum_{ij}^ n a_{ij} \partial_ i \partial_ j \biggr) u=0 \text \quad \text{in } \Omega; \qquad Bu=0 \quad \text {on } \partial \Omega, \quad t>0; \] \[ u(0,x)= f(x), \qquad \partial_ t u(0,x)= f_ 2 (x) \quad \text{on } \Omega. \] Here \(a_{ij}\) are constant \(n\times n\) matrices, \(a_{ij}= (a_{ipjq})\) satisfy \(a_{ipjq}= a_{pijq}\), \(i,j,p,q= 1, 2, 3,\dots, n\), and \[ \sum_{ipjq}^ n a_{ipjq} \varepsilon_{iq} \overline {\varepsilon}_{ip}= \delta \sum_{i,p}^ n | \varepsilon, p|^ 2, \] for all symmetric matrices \((\varepsilon_{ij})\), \(Bu= u|_{\partial \Omega}\) or \(Bu= \sum_{ij} \nu_ i (x) a_{ij} \partial_ j u|_{\partial \Omega}\), where \(\nu= (\nu_ 1, \nu_ 2,..., \nu_ n)\) is the unit outer normal to \(\partial \Omega\). It is assumed that \(\sum a_{ij} \xi_ i \xi_ j\) has eigenvalues \(\lambda_ j (\xi)\) with constant multiplicity for any \(\xi= (\xi_ 1 \dots \xi_ n)^ t\in \mathbb{R}^ n \setminus 0\). Using the Radon transform, a translation representation of the data \((f_ 1, f_ 2)\) can be constructed in free space. The author assumes that the slowness hypersurface \[ \Sigma_ i= \{\xi:\;\lambda_ j (\xi) =1\}, \qquad i=1,\dots, d \qquad (\text{distinct roots)} \] is strictly convex. Then a more or less explicit representation is given of the scattering kernel \(S\) and as a consequence results on the singular support of the backscattering \(S(s, -w,w)\), via constructions for the Poisson operator for non-glancing boundary data.