ABSTRACT
So far we have explored the reflection and transmission of plane waves when they are incident on plane surfaces. But if we look at waves in a region close to a point source of energy we are likely to find that the waves are spherical and that the amplitude of the waves decreases as we move further away from the source. If the source is a line source the waves are likely to be cylindrical. On the other hand, if the region of interest is far from the source region the waves may be well represented by plane waves of constant amplitude but the interface might be curved. As we will discover in this chapter, both these situations can be represented by superpositions of plane waves. For curved interfaces we will find closed form solutions for single scattering of acoustic, elastodynamic, and electrodynamic waves incident upon spherical objects. These solutions can then be used as the starting point for multiple scattering calculations or to verify the accuracy of numerical techniques needed for more complicated geometries. We will also take a brief look at multiple scattering and explore multiple scattering from an array of cylinders.
