The behaviour of rays can display a complicated pattern near singularities in inhomogeneous anisotropic media. The peculiarities in the ray field arise particularly near the conical and wedge singularities, which generate linear, circular or elliptical anticaustics in their vicinities. The anticaustics represent barriers for rays and prevent the rays from crossing them. If the rays approach the anticaustic, they can be strongly curved and deflected from their original direction. The rays outside the anticaustic are forced to move around the anticaustic. The rays inside the anticaustic are captured and forced to pass the caustic generated by the singularity. The anomalies in the ray behaviour are more pronounced under strong anisotropy, if anisotropy decreases the ray field becomes more regular.
The paper is available in PostScript (24638 kB !!, colour figures) and GZIPped PostScript (587 kB, colour figures).
SW3D
- main page of consortium Seismic Waves in Complex 3-D Structures .