The reflection coefficient of a fractional reflector

arXiv2305.04071MaRDI QIDQ6435604FDOQ6435604

Authors: Laurent Demanet, Olivier Lafitte 

Publication date: 6 May 2023

Abstract: This paper considers the question of characterizing the behavior of waves reflected by a fractional singularity of the wave speed profile, i.e., of the form [ c(x_1, x_2, x_3) = c_0 left(1 + left( frac{x_1}{ell} ight)_{+}^alpha ight)^{-1/2}, ] for $alpha>0$ not necessarily integer. We first focus on the case of one spatial dimension and a harmonic time dependence. We define the reflection coefficient $R$ from a limiting absorption principle. We provide an exact formula for $R$ in terms of the solution to a Volterra equation. We obtain the asymptotic limit of this coefficient in the large $ellomega/c_0$ regime as [ R = frac{Gamma(alpha + 1)}{(2 i)^{alpha + 2}} left( frac{c_0}{ell omega} ight)^{alpha} + mbox{lower order terms.} ] The amplitude is proportional to $omeg{a}^{-alpha}$, and the phase rotation behavior is obtained from the $i^{-(alpha+2)}$ factor. The proof method does not rely on representing the solution by special functions, since $alpha>0$ is general. In the multi-dimensional layered case, we obtain a similar result where the nondimensional variable $ellomega/c_0$ is modified to account for the angle of incidence. The asymptotic analysis now requires the waves to be non-glancing. The resulting reflection coefficient can now be interpreted as a Fourier multiplier of order $-alpha$. In practice, the knowledge of the dependency of both the amplitude and the phase of $R$ on $omega$ and $alpha$ might be able to inform the kind of signal processing needed to characterize the fractional nature of reflectors, for instance in geophysics.

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