Electromagnetic scattering at composite objects: a novel multi-trace boundary integral formulation (Q2838591)

In this paper, the authors propose a novel first-kind boundary integral equation formulation (calling \textit{multi-trace formulation}) for Maxwell's equations in frequency domain for diffraction and scattering by composite media, which can allow efficient simulation. The main idea of the proposed formulation is based on the consideration of two pairs of traces on interfaces in the interior of the scatterer. They provide rigorous and comprehensive analysis under this framework, e.g., coercivity, uniqueness and existence of solution, and a Calderón identity for the multi-trace formulation as well.