Caustics, Catastrophes and Wave Fields

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Caustic Fields in Physical Problems.- 1.2 The Geometrical Aspect of the Caustic Problem.- 1.3 The Wave Aspect of the Caustic Problem.- 2 Rays and Caustics.- 2.1 Equations of Geometrical Optics.- 2.2 The Role of Rays in the Method of Geometrical Optics.- 2.3 Physical Characteristics of Caustics.- 2.4 Complex Rays.- 3 Caustics as Catastrophes.- 3.1 Mappings Induced by Rays.- 3.2 Classification of Typical Caustics.- 4 Typical Integrals of Catastrophe Theory.- 4.1 Standard Caustic Integrals.- 4.2 The Airy Integral.- 4.3 The Pearsey Integral.- 4.4 Other Typical Integrals.- 5 Uniform Caustic Asymptotics Derived with Standard Integrals.- 5.1 Uniform Airy Asymptotic of a Scalar Field.- 5.2 Uniform Caustic Asymptotics Based on General Standard Integrals.- 5.3 Illustrative Examples.- 6 Maslov's Method of the Canonical Operator.- 6.1 Principal Relationships.- 6.2 Specific Problems.- 7 Method of Interference Integrals.- 7.1 Ray Type Integrals.- 7.2 Caustic Integrals.- 7.3 Additional Topics and Generalizations.- 8 Penumbra Caustics.- 8.1 Broken Penumbra Caustics.- 8.2 Penumbra Caustics of Diffraction Rays.- 8.3 Penumbral Caustics and Edge Catastrophes.- 9 Modifications and Generalizations of Standard Integrals and Functions.- 9.1 Nonpolynomial Phase Standard Integrals.- 9.2 Structurally Unstable Caustics.- 9.3 Standard Integrals with Amplitude Correction.- 9.4 Reflection from a Barrier and Oscillations in a Potential Well.- 9.5 Standard Functions Induced by Ordinary Differential Equations.- 10 Caustics Revisited.- 10.1 Caustics in Dispersive Media.- 10.2 Caustics in Anisotropic Media.- 10.3 Complex Caustics.- 10.4 Random Caustics.- 10.5 Caustics in Quantum Mechanical Problems.- 10.6 Concluding Remarks.- References.- List of Symbols.