Riemannian geometrical optics: surface waves in diffractive scattering

The geometrical diffraction theory, in the sense of Keller, is here reconsidered as an obstacle problem in the Riemannian geometry. The first result is the proof of the existence and the analysis of the main properties of the "diffracted rays", which follow from the non-uniqueness of the Cauchy problem for geodesics in a Riemannian manifold with boundary. Then, the axial caustic is here regarded as a conjugate locus, in the sense of the Riemannian geometry, and the results of the Morse theory can be applied. The methods of the algebraic topology allow us to introduce the homotopy classes of diffracted rays. These geometrical results are related to the asymptotic approximations of a solution of a boundary value problem for the reduced wave equation. In particular, we connect the results of the Morse theory to the Maslov construction, which is used to obtain the uniformization of the asymptotic approximations. Then, the border of the diffracting body is the envelope of the diffracted rays and, instead of the standard saddle point method, use is made of the procedure of Chester, Friedman and Ursell to derive the damping factors associated with the rays which propagate along the boundary. Finally, the amplitude of the diffracted rays when the diffracting body is an opaque sphere is explicitly calculated.