Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 1211 - 1214 (1985)Phase-Space Eikonal Method for Treating Wave Equations |
PRL Celebrates 50 Years
This Week's Milestone Letters are from 1984: |
Steven W. McDonald *
Physics Department and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
Received 12 December 1984
We present a new method for treating classical (or quantal) wave equations in the shortwavelength (semiclassical) regime, based on a description of the wave in the ray phase space. The coherent-state representation is defined, and the equation which it obeys is given and solved under assumptions similar to those of conventional eikonal theory. As indicated by an example, the result is a smooth distribution on phase space which, when "projected" onto configuration space, yields a wave field with no caustic singularities.
©1985 The American Physical Society
URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v54/p1211
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.1211
PACS: 03.40.Kf
* Present address: Laboratory for Plasma and Fusion Energy Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, Md. 20742.
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