Towards a classification of wave catastrophes
arXiv:physics/0309036 · doi:10.1088/1464-4258/6/5/019
Abstract
Wave catastrophes are characterized by logarithmic phase singularities. Examples are light at the horizon of a black hole, sound in transsonic fluids, waves in accelerated frames, light in singular dielectrics and slow light close to a zero of the group velocity. We show that the wave amplitude grows with a half-integer power for monodirectional and symmetric wave catastrophes.