The Wedge-Type Problem: The Building Brick in High-Frequency Scattering from Complex Objects

This paper presents the problem of high-frequency scattering in a ray-tracing context. It focuses on the wedge problem as the most relevant contribution to the diffracted field from complex objects. The wedge problem's solution is then treated either analytically or numerically. It is treated analytically by resorting to the Malyuzhinets spectral technique and a subsequent approximate solution. It is treated numerically by deriving a parabolic equation from the original elliptic problem, which can then be easily and efficiently solved numerically via finite differences.