2012 Young Researchers Workshop:
Kinetic Description of Multiscale Phenomena

Frozen Gaussian approximation for high frequency wave propagation

Xu Yang

University of California, Santa Barbara

We propose the frozen Gaussian approximation for the computation of high frequency wave propagation. This method approximates the solution to the wave equation by an integral representation. It provides a highly efficient computational tool based on the asymptotic analysis on phase plane. Compared to geometric optics, it provides a valid solution around caustics. Compared to the Gaussian beam method, it overcomes the drawback of beam spreading. We will present numerical examples as well as preliminary application in seismology to show the performance of this method.