Weakly Nonlinear Geometric Optics for Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws

We present a new approach to analyze the validation of weakly nonlinear geometric optics for entropy solutions of nonlinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws whose eigenvalues are allowed to have constant multiplicity and corresponding characteristic fields to be linearly degenerate. The approach is based on our careful construction of more accurate auxiliary approximation to weakly nonlinear geometric optics, the properties of wave front-tracking approximate solutions, the behavior of solutions to the approximate asymptotic equations, and the standard semigroup estimates. To illustrate this approach more clearly, we focus first on the Cauchy problem for the hyperbolic systems with compact support initial data of small bounded variation and establish that the $L^1-$estimate between the entropy solution and the geometric optics expansion function is bounded by $O(\varepsilon^2)$, {\it independent of} the time variable. This implies that the simpler geometric optics expansion functions can be employed to study the behavior of general entropy solutions to hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Finally, we extend the results to the case with non-compact support initial data of bounded variation.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figure

Classical Light Beams and Geometric Phases

We present a study of geometric phases in classical wave and polarisation optics using the basic mathematical framework of quantum mechanics. Important physical situations taken from scalar wave optics, pure polarisation optics, and the behaviour of polarisation in the eikonal or ray limit of Maxwell's equations in a transparent medium are considered. The case of a beam of light whose propagation direction and polarisation state are both subject to change is dealt with, attention being paid to the validity of Maxwell's equations at all stages. Global topological aspects of the space of all propagation directions are discussed using elementary group theoretical ideas, and the effects on geometric phases are elucidated.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur

Geometric optics of whispering gallery modes

Quasiclassical approach and geometric optics allow to describe rather accurately whispering gallery modes in convex axisymmetric bodies. Using this approach we obtain practical formulas for the calculation of eigenfrequencies and radiative Q-factors in dielectrical spheroid and compare them with the known solutions for the particular cases and with numerical calculations. We show how geometrical interpretation allows expansion of the method on arbitrary shaped axisymmetric bodies.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, Photonics West 2006 conferenc

Gravitational helicity interaction

For gravitational deflections of massless particles of given helicity from a classical rotating body, we describe the general relativity corrections to the geometric optics approximation. We compute the corresponding scattering cross sections for neutrinos, photons and gravitons to lowest order in the gravitational coupling constant. We find that the helicity coupling to spacetime geometry modifies the ray deflection formula of the geometric optics, so that rays of different helicity are deflected by different amounts. We also discuss the validity range of the Born approximation.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Nuclear Physics

Semilinear geometric optics with boundary amplification

We study weakly stable semilinear hyperbolic boundary value problems with highly oscillatory data. Here weak stability means that exponentially growing modes are absent, but the so-called uniform Lopatinskii condition fails at some boundary frequency $\beta$ in the hyperbolic region. As a consequence of this degeneracy there is an amplification phenomenon: outgoing waves of amplitude O(\eps^2) and wavelength \eps give rise to reflected waves of amplitude O(\eps), so the overall solution has amplitude O(\eps). Moreover, the reflecting waves emanate from a radiating wave that propagates in the boundary along a characteristic of the Lopatinskii determinant. An approximate solution that displays the qualitative behavior just described is constructed by solving suitable profile equations that exhibit a loss of derivatives, so we solve the profile equations by a Nash-Moser iteration. The exact solution is constructed by solving an associated singular problem involving singular derivatives of the form \partial_{x'}+\beta\frac{\partial_{\theta_0}}{\eps}, $x'$ being the tangential variables with respect to the boundary. Tame estimates for the linearization of that problem are proved using a first-order calculus of singular pseudodifferential operators constructed in the companion article \cite{CGW2}. These estimates exhibit a loss of one singular derivative and force us to construct the exact solution by a separate Nash-Moser iteration. The same estimates are used in the error analysis, which shows that the exact and approximate solutions are close in $L^\infty$ on a fixed time interval independent of the (small) wavelength \eps. The approach using singular systems allows us to avoid constructing high order expansions and making small divisor assumptions

Plane SPDC-Quantum Mirror

In this paper the kinematical correlations from the phase conjugated optics (equivalently with crossing symmetric spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) phenomena) in the nonlinear crystals are used for the description of a new kind of optical device called SPDC-quantum mirrors. Then, some important laws of the plane SPDC-quantum mirrors combined with usual mirrors or lens are proved only by using geometric optics concepts. In particular, these results allow us to obtain a new interpretation of the recent experiments on the two-photon geometric optics.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0810.340

Quasi-isotropic approximation of geometric optics

Modified geometric optics method for solution of Maxwell equation

Supercritical geometric optics for nonlinear Schrodinger equations

We consider the small time semi-classical limit for nonlinear Schrodinger equations with defocusing, smooth, nonlinearity. For a super-cubic nonlinearity, the limiting system is not directly hyperbolic, due to the presence of vacuum. To overcome this issue, we introduce new unknown functions, which are defined nonlinearly in terms of the wave function itself. This approach provides a local version of the modulated energy functional introduced by Y.Brenier. The system we obtain is hyperbolic symmetric, and the justification of WKB analysis follows.Comment: 29 pages. Some typos fixe