AN ANALYTIC SOLUTION FOR LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING

BY TWO SOFT SPHERES

A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS

, G. DASSIOS

, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU

SIAM J. APPL. MATH. c 1998 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Vol. 58, No. 2, pp. 370386, April 1998 002
Abstract. A plane wave is scattered by two small spheres of not necessarily equal radii. Low-
frequency theory reduces this scattering problem to a sequence of potential problems which can be
solved iteratively. It is shown that there exists exactly one bispherical coordinate system that ts the
given geometry. Then R-separation is utilized to solve analytically the potential problems governing
the leading two low-frequency approximations. It is shown that the Rayleigh approximation is
azimuthal independent, while the rst-order approximation involves the azimuthal angle explicitly.
The leading two nonvanishing approximations of the normalized scattering amplitude as well as the
scattering cross-section are also provided. The Rayleigh approximations for the amplitude and for
the cross-section involve only a monopole term, while their next order approximations are expressed
in terms of a monopole as well as a dipole term. The dipole term disappears whenever the two
spheres become equal, and this observation provides a way to determine whether the two spheres
are equal or not, from far-eld measurements. Finally, it is shown that for all practical purposes,
rst-order multiple scattering yields an excellent approximation of this scattering process.
Key words. bispherical coordinates, low-frequency scattering
AMS subject classications. 35C10, 35J25, 35P25
PII. S0036139996304081
1. Introduction. The problem of direct and inverse scattering by a single ob-
ject has been extensively investigated in the literature [2, 3]. For some single shapes
analytical results have been obtained for low frequency and high frequency as well as
for any frequency [1, 4]. If the scattering region is composed of more than one con-
nected component, then we refer to multiple scattering, since the wave eld scattered
by any one of the scatterers is received as an incident wave for the rest of the scatter-
ers. For the mathematical formulation of multiple scattering problems we refer to the
work of Twersky [9, 10]. In [5] an analytic solution was obtained for scattering by a
small sphere embedded in a half-space, based on an appropriate use of the bispherical
coordinate system [6, 7, 8].
In the present work the bispherical system is further utilized to obtain the ana-
lytic solution of the scattering problem corresponding to a plane wave that is incident
upon two small spheres that are allowed to have dierent radii. It is of interest to
note that given the size and the position of the two spheres, there is exactly one
bispherical coordinate system for which, as the spherical coordinate surface sweeps
out the three-dimensional (3D) space, there are exactly two particular values of the
corresponding coordinate variable that t the given spheres. The two spheres are
not allowed to touch each other. Hence, they describe a genuine two-body multiple
scattering problem. The solution of the nonlinear system that species the particu-
lar bispherical system we seek is provided in the Appendix. The exterior boundary
value problems that determine the leading two low-frequency approximations have
been solved analytically. These closed form solutions provide results which, beside

Received by the editors May 15, 1996; accepted for publication (in revised form) October 8,
1996.
http://www.siam.org/journals/siap/58-2/30408.html

University of Patras, GR 265 00 Patras, Greece (dassios@rea.iceht.forth.gr).

Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes.

370
LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING BY TWO SOFT SPHERES 371
their signicance to multiple scattering theory, can be used to check numerical codes
designed to handle more general shapes.
Section 2 contains the statement of the scattering problem and its low-frequency
treatment. The zeroth-order, low-frequency approximation, known as Rayleigh ap-
proximation, is given in section 3, while in section 4 the solution of the rst order of
approximation is provided. The solution given in section 4 was possible through the
use of appropriate calculational techniques. Then orthogonality arguments lead to the
calculation of the surface integrals needed for the determination of both the scattering
amplitude and the scattering cross-section, in section 5. It is shown there that the
rst-order approximation for the scattering amplitude behaves as a monopole, while
the second-order approximation involves a monopole term as well as a term that is
proportional to the projection of the dierence between the direction of incidence and
the direction of observation, on the axis connecting the centers of the two spheres.
This term vanishes whenever the two spheres become equal. Hence, a dipole behavior
of the second-order low-frequency approximation in the far eld establishes the fact
that the two spheres have dierent radii. A similar situation holds true for the scat-
tering cross-section, where the dierent sizes of the two spheres are coded in a dipole
term with respect to the direction of incidence, for the second-order approximation
of the cross-section.
All the obtained results are given in terms of series which converge very rapidly.
This series behavior reects the multiple scattering characteristics of the two-body
system [9, 10]. A discussion of the results and some two-dimensional (2D) and 3D
graphs showing the rapid convergence of the basic series involved are given in section
6. From the graphs of the partial sums, it is easily shown that the rst two terms of
the series provide an approximation that is indistinguishable from the exact value of
the innite sum.
2. Statement of the problem. Let us consider two spheres of radii a
1
and a
2
with centers that are located a distance d > a
1
+ a
2
apart (Figure 1). Our rst task
is to adapt a bispherical coordinate system in such a way as to be able to identify the
two given spheres with two specied values of one of the system variables.
The bispherical system (, , ) is an orthogonal coordinate system [6, 7, 8] which
is connected to the cartesian system (x
1
, x
2
, x
3
) through the equations
x
1
= a
sin cos
cosh cos
, (1)
x
2
= a
sin sin
cosh cos
, (2)
x
3
= a
sinh
cosh cos
, (3)
where 2a denotes the focii distance, R species the nonintersecting spheres,
[0, ] species the intersecting spheres, and [0, 2) is the azimuthal angle
which represents the axial symmetry of the bispherical system.
The coordinate surface = constant is a sphere centered at the point
(0, 0, a/tanh ) with radius a/| sinh |. As runs from to + the corresponding
coordinate sphere springs at the focus (0, 0, a) for , sweeps the x
3
< 0
half-space for < 0, passes through the x
3
= 0 plane for = 0, and then sweeps the
x
3
> 0 half-space for > 0 to end up at (0, 0, +a) for +.
The = constant surface is generated through rotation of a circular arc around
its chord which coincides with the focal segment. For 0 < <

2
the minor arc is
372 A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS, G. DASSIOS, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU
FIG. 1. The two-sphere scattering system in bispherical geometry. S
1
, S
2
correspond to
=
1
, =
2
, respectively.
rotated, generating a spindle-shaped surface, while for

2
< < the major arc is
rotated, generating an apple-shaped surface. The focal segment
{(0, 0, x
3
)| a x
3
+a}
corresponds to = . The complement of the focal segment on the x
3
-axis, i.e., the
set
{(0, 0, x
3
)|a < x
3
< +},
is obtained for = 0.
Finally, the = constant surface is the half-plane that species a particular
meridian plane.
If we demand that the sphere in the lower half-space correspond to the value
=
1
and the sphere in the upper half-space correspond to the value =
2
, then
we need to specify positive numbers
1
,
2
, and a in such a way as to satisfy the
conditions
a
sinh
1
= a
1
, (4)
a
sinh
2
= a
2
, (5)
a
tanh
1
+
a
tanh
2
= d. (6)
LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING BY TWO SOFT SPHERES 373
The nonlinear system (4)(6) has the solution (see the appendix)
a =
_
d
2
(a
1
a
2
)
2
_
d
2
(a
1
+a
2
)
2
2d
, (7)

1
= ln
d
2
+ (a
1
a
2
)(a
1
+a
2
) +
_
d
2
(a
1
a
2
)
2
_
d
2
(a
1
+a
2
)
2
2 da
1
, (8)

2
= ln
d
2
(a
1
a
2
)(a
1
+a
2
) +
_
d
2
(a
1
a
2
)
2
_
d
2
(a
1
+a
2
)
2
2 da
2
, (9)
which, under the assumption that all
1
,
2
, and a are positive, is unique. There-
fore, there is exactly one bispherical system that ts the given two-sphere scattering
obstacle, and this is shown in Figure 1.
The actual region where the scattered wave propagates is specied by the exterior
of the two spheres. This corresponds to the domain
V = {(, , )| (
1
,
2
), [0, ], [0, 2)} (10)
and forms a bispherical shell. The interior of the sphere S
1
( =
1
) corresponds to
(,
1
) and the interior of the sphere S
2
( =
2
) corresponds to (
2
, +).
The spherical radial distance is given by
r = a

cosh + cos
cosh cos
, (11)
which implies that the far-eld region corresponds to a small neighborhood of
(, ) = (0, 0) in the bispherical domain.
Suppressing the harmonic time dependence exp{it}, where denotes the an-
gular frequency, and assuming the plane wave incidence
u
i
(r) = e
ikr
, (12)
with k = k

k the propagation vector and k the wave number, we arrive at the following
scalar scattering problem for a pair of acoustically soft spheres.
Find the total eld
u(r) = u
i
(r) +u
s
(r), r V, (13)
which satises the Helmholtz equation
( +k
2
)u(r) = 0, r V, (14)
and the boundary conditions
u(r) = 0, r S
1
S
2
; (15)
the scattered eld u
S
satises the Sommerfeld radiation condition
lim
r
r
_
u
s
r
iku
s
_
= 0 (16)
uniformly over the unit sphere S
2
.
374 A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS, G. DASSIOS, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU
For scatterers that are small as compared to the wave number k; i.e. for scatterers
with ka
1
, ka
2
1, the well-known low-frequency theory can be applied where the
eld u is expanded as
u(r) =

n=0
(ik)
n
n!
u
n
(r), r V, (17)
and the low-frequency approximations satisfy the subsequent problems in potential
theory [4]. The leading low-frequency coecient, the so-called Rayleigh approxima-
tion, solves the following boundary value problem:
u
0
(r) = 0, r V, (18)
u
0
(r) = 0, r S
1
S
2
, (19)
u
0
(r) = 1 + 0
_
1
r
_
, r . (20)
The rst-order low-frequency approximation is derived by solving the following prob-
lem:
u
1
(r) = 0, r V, (21)
u
1
(r) = 0, r S
1
S
2
, (22)
u
1
(r) =

k r
1
4
_
S1S2
u
0
(r)
n
ds(r) + 0
_
1
r
_
, r , (23)
where

n
stands for the normal derivative in the outer direction.
Solutions of particular potential problems provide the low-frequency approxima-
tions of order n 2, but since we are not going to provide higher order solutions, we
do not formulate them here. The statement of all these potential problems as well as
the low-frequency expansion of the scattered eld with respect to various boundary
conditions can be found in [4].
In the next two sections we solve analytically the boundary value problems (18)
(20) and (21)(23) employing bispherical geometry.
3. The Rayleigh approximation. In bispherical coordinates, the boundary
value problem (18)(20) that leads to the axially symmetric leading low-frequency
approximation u
0
(, ) assumes the form

_
1
cosh cos

_
u
0
(, ) +
1
sin

_
sin
cosh cos

_
u
0
(, ) = 0 (24)
for (
1
,
2
), [0, ],
u
0
(
1
, ) = u
0
(
2
, ) = 0, [0, ], (25)
and
u
0
(, ) = 1 + 0
_
cosh cos
cosh + cos
_
, (, ) (0, 0). (26)
Equation (24) is the Laplace equation for solutions that are independent of the az-
imuthal angle . It accepts R-separation [6], and a typical eigenfunction expansion,
LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING BY TWO SOFT SPHERES 375
regular on the axis, assumes the form
f(, ) =
_
cosh cos

n=0
[A
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
+B
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
]P
n
(cos ), (27)
where P
n
are the Legendre polynomials. A key formula in our work is provided by
the uniformly convergent expansion
1

cosh cos
=

n=0
e
(n+
1
2
)||
P
n
(cos ) (28)
given in [8] (formula (10.3.70)). Note that the expansion (28) is independent of the
semifocal distance a. In view of (26), (27), and (28) we seek solutions in the form
u
0
(, ) =
_
cosh cos

n=0
[

2e
(n+
1
2
)||
+ A
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
+B
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
]P
n
(cos ),
(29)
where the coecients A
n
and B
n
are related through the boundary conditions (25),
implying
A
n
+e
(2n+1)1
B
n
=

2, (30)
A
n
+e
(2n+1)2
B
n
=

2e
(2n+1)2
(31)
for n = 0, 1, 2, . . . .
Solving the system (30), (31) we obtain
A
n
=

2
e
(2n+1)1
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
, (32)
B
n
=

2
e
(2n+1)2
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
(33)
for n = 0, 1, 2, . . . .
Substituting (32) and (33) into (29) we arrive at the analytic expression for the
Rayleigh approximation
u
0
(, ) =
_
cosh cos

n=0
I
n
()P
n
(cos ), (34)
where
I
n
() =

2
_
e
(n+
1
2
)||

e
(2n+1)1
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
e
(n+
1
2
)

e
(2n+1)2
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
e
(n+
1
2
)
_
.
(35)
Obviously, expression (34) for u
0
satises Laplace equation (24) and the boundary
conditions (25). If we dene the function
() =

n=0
e
(2n+1)
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
, (36)
376 A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS, G. DASSIOS, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU
then by virtue of (11) we conclude that
lim
r
r[u
0
1] = lim
(,)(0,0)
a

cosh + cos
cosh cos
[u
0
(, ) 1]
= 2a((
1
) + (
2
)),
(37)
which conrms the asymptotic behavior (26).
4. The rst-order approximation. Because of the

k r term in the asymp-
totic expansion (23), the rst-order approximation u
1
is not azimuthal independent
anymore. In fact, our rst task is to express the linear harmonic functions x
1
, x
2
, x
3
in the general R-separable form
f(, , ) =
_
cosh cos

n=0
n

m=0
[D
m
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
+E
m
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
]
P
m
n
(cos )[F
m
n
cos(m) +G
m
n
sin(m)]
(38)
of the Laplace equation
(cosh cos )
_

_
1
cosh cos

_
g(, , )
+
1
sin

_
sin
cosh cos

_
g(, , )
_
+
1
sin
2

2
g(, , ) = 0.
(39)
This can be achieved in the following way. From (1) and (11) we obtain
x
1
= a
sin cos
cosh cos
= 2a
_
cosh cos cos
d
d
1

cosh cos
= 2

2a
_
cosh cos cos

n=0
e
(n+
1
2
)||
d
d
P
n
(cos )
= 2

2a
_
cosh cos

n=1
e
(n+
1
2
)||
P
1
n
(cos ) cos ,
(40)
and similarly from (2) and (11) we conclude that
x
2
= 2

2a
_
cosh cos

n=1
e
(n+
1
2
)||
P
1
n
(cos ) sin . (41)
LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING BY TWO SOFT SPHERES 377
Finally, from (3) and (11) we derive the expansion
x
3
= a
sinh
cosh cos
= 2a
_
cosh cos
d
d
1

cosh cos
= 2

2a
_
cosh cos

n=0
d
d
e
(n+
1
2
)||
P
n
(cos )
= 2

2a
_
cosh cos

n=0
_
n +
1
2
_
(sgn )e
(n+
1
2
)||
P
n
(cos ),
(42)
where
sgn =
_

_
1, < 0,
0, = 0,
1, > 0.
(43)
Therefore, the

kr term of the far eld form dictates that the rst-order approximation
u
1
lives not only in the axially symmetric subspace generated by P
n
(cos ), but also
in the subspace of rst-order azimuthal dependence generated by P
1
n
(cos ) cos and
P
1
n
(cos ) sin .
Translating the boundary value problem (21)(23) into bispherical language we
conrm that u
1
should satisfy equation (39), the boundary conditions
u
1
(
1
, , ) = u
1
(
2
, , ) = 0, (44)
and the asymptotic form
u
1
(, , ) = k
1
x
1
+k
2
x
2
+k
3
x
3
C + 0
_
cosh cos
cosh + cos
_
,
(, ) (0, 0),
(45)
where
C =
1
4
_
S1S2
u
0
(r)
n
ds(r), (46)
x
1
, x
2
, and x
3
in (45) are given by (40), (41), and (42), respectively, and

k = (k
1
, k
2
, k
3
).
Consequently, if we recall (11), (40), (41), and (42) we conclude that the solution
of (21)(23) is expressed in the form
378 A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS, G. DASSIOS, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU
u
1
(, , ) = 2

2a
_
cosh cos

n=0
__
n +
1
2
_
k
3
(sgn ) C
_
e
(n+
1
2
)||
P
n
(cos )
+

n=0
[D
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
+E
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
]P
n
(cos )
+

n=1
e
(n+
1
2
)||
P
1
n
(cos )(k
1
cos +k
2
sin )
+

n=1
[F
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
+G
n
e
(n+
1
2
)
]P
1
n
(cos )(cos +H
n
sin )
_
,
(47)
where the coecients D
n
, E
n
, F
n
, G
n
, H
n
have to be chosen in such a way as to
satisfy the boundary conditions (45). To this end we use orthogonality properties in
order to arrive at the following systems:
D
n
+e
(2n+1)1
E
n
=
_
n +
1
2
_
k
3
+C, (48)
D
n
e
(2n+1)2
E
n
=
__
n +
1
2
_
k
3
C
_
e
(2n+1)2
(49)
for n = 0, 1, 2, . . . ,
F
n
+e
(2n+1)1
G
n
= k
1
, (50)
F
n
+e
(2n+1)2
G
n
= e
(2n+1)2
k
1
(51)
for n = 1, 2, 3, . . . , and
H
n
=
k
2
k
1
, n = 1, 2, 3, . . . . (52)
Solving (48), (49) we obtain
D
n
=
[e
(2n+1)1
+ 1]
__
n +
1
2
_
k
3
+C
_
+ 2Ce
(2n+1)1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
, (53)
E
n
=
[e
(2n+1)2
+ 1]
__
n +
1
2
_
k
3
+C
_
2C
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
(54)
for n = 0, 1, 2, . . . .
Similarly, the solution of (50), (51) is given by
F
n
= k
1
e
(2n+1)1
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
, (55)
G
n
= k
1
e
(2n+1)2
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
(56)
for n = 1, 2, 3, . . . .
LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING BY TWO SOFT SPHERES 379
Substituting (52)(56) into (47) we derive the following analytic form of the rst-
order approximation:
u
1
(, , ) = 2

2a

cosh cos

n=0
K
n
()P
n
(cos ) +

n=1

n
()P
1
n
(cos )(k
1
cos +k
2
sin )
_
,
(57)
where, for n = 0, 1, 2, . . .
K
n
() =
__
n +
1
2
_
k
3
(sgn ) C
_
e
(n+
1
2
)||

__
n +
1
2
_
k
3
C
_
[e
(2n+1)1
+ 1] + 2C
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
e
(n+
1
2
)
+
__
n +
1
2
_
k
3
+C
_
[e
(2n+1)2
+ 1] 2C
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
e
(n+
1
2
)
,
(58)
and for n = 1, 2, 3, . . .

n
() = e
(n+
1
2
)||

e
(2n+1)1
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
e
(n+
1
2
)

e
(2n+1)2
1
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
e
(n+
1
2
)
. (59)
It can easily be shown that the boundary conditions (42) imply that
K
n
(
1
) = K
n
(
2
) = 0, n = 0, 1, 2, . . . , (60)
and

n
(
1
) =
n
(
2
) = 0, n = 1, 2, 3, . . . . (61)
We observe here that the expression (k
1
cos + k
2
sin ) denotes the inner product
of the horizontal projections, of the direction of propagation

k and the direction of
observation r, on a plane perpendicular to the axis of symmetry. Therefore, whenever
the horizontal directions of

k and r are perpendicular, the second series in the right-
hand side of the solution (57) vanishes, and the rst-order approximation u
1
does not
involve the azimuthal angle explicitly.
5. The far eld. The scattered eld u
s
accepts the integral representation
u
s
(r) =
ik
4
_
S1S2
h(k|r r

|)

n

u(r

) ds(r

), r V, (62)
where
h(x) =
e
ix
ix
(63)
is the fundamental solution of the Helmholtz operator in three dimensions. From the
representation (62) we obtain the following asymptotic form:
u
s
(r) = g(r,

k)h(kr) + 0
_
1
r
2
_
, r , (64)
380 A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS, G. DASSIOS, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU
where
g(r,

k) =
ik
4
_
S1S2
e
ikrr
u(r

)
n

ds(r

) (65)
denotes the scattering amplitude which is normalized to the same dimensions as u
s
.
Comparing (62) and (64) we see that the only dierence between the representation
of the near eld (62) and that of the far eld (65) is observed in the kernel function,
which in (62) represents a point source located at r

S
1
S
2
, while in (65) represents
a point source situated at the origin, modied by the phase factor of a plane wave.
Hence, the scattering amplitude describes how the obstacle responds in the far eld
and in the direction r, when it is excited by a plane wave propagating in the direction

k. In other words, the scattering amplitude provides a directional analysis of the

interaction between the incident eld and the obstacle as it is established far away
from the region of interaction. It has been proved in inverse scattering theory [3] that
the scattering amplitude, also known as far-eld pattern, registers all the information
both of physical as well as geometrical character, about the scattering obstacle.
Low-frequency analysis of the scattering amplitude [4] leads to the approximation
g(r,

k) =
ik
4
_
S1S2
u
0
(r

)
n

ds(r

)
+
k
2
4
_
S1S2
_
u
1
(r

)
n

(r r

)
u
0
(r

)
n

_
ds(r

) + 0(k
3
).
(66)
In order to obtain an analytic expression for the low-frequency approximation of the
scattering amplitude, the three integrals in (66) must be evaluated.
In view of the metric coecients
g

= g

=
g

sin
2

=
a
2
(cosh cos )
2
(67)
we conrm the expression

n
= n =
cosh cos
a

(68)
for the normal derivative and
ds(r) =
a
2
sin
(cosh cos )
2
d d (69)
for the surface element on the = constant surface.
As the variable increases, it describes a sphere expanding in the lower half-
space, where is negative, and a contracting sphere in the upper half-space, where
is positive. Therefore, the sign of the normal derivative on S
2
has to be reversed in
order to secure normal dierentiation in the outer direction.
Consequently, in view of (25), which implies that
I
n
(
1
) = I
n
(
2
) = 0, n = 0, 1, 2, . . . , (70)
we arrive at
u
0
(r

)
n

=1
=
(cosh
1
cos )
3/2
a

n=0
I

n
(
1
)P
n
(cos ) (71)
LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING BY TWO SOFT SPHERES 381
and
u
0
(r

)
n

=2
=
(cosh
2
cos )
3/2
a

n=0
I

n
(
2
)P
n
(cos ). (72)
Substituting (69), (70), and (71) in the rst integral on the right-hand side of (66)
and using orthogonality arguments for the Legendre polynomials as well as the basic
formula (28) we obtain
_
S1S2
u
0
(r

)
n

ds(r

)
= a

n=0
I

n
(
1
)
_
S1
P
n
(cos ) sin

cosh
1
cos
d d
a

n=0
I

n
(
2
)
_
S2
P
n
(cos ) sin

cosh
2
cos
d d
= 2

2a

n=0

=0
[I

n
(
1
)e
(+
1
2
)1
I

n
(
2
)e
(+
1
2
)2
]

_

0
P
n
(cos )P

(cos ) sin d
= 2

2a

n=0
2
(2n + 1)
[I

n
(
1
)e
(n+
1
2
)1
I

n
(
2
)e
(n+
1
2
)2
].
(73)
Long but straightforward calculations verify that
I

n
(
1
)e
(n+
1
2
)1
I

n
(
2
)e
(n+
1
2
)2
=

2(2n + 1)
e
(2n+1)1
+e
(2n+1)2
2
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
.
(74)
Therefore, in view of (36) and (74), the surface integral in (73) yields
_
S1S2
u
0
(r

)
n

ds(r

) = 8a((
1
) + (
2
)), (75)
which also implies that
C = 2a((
1
) + (
2
)). (76)
As a byproduct of the above calculations we recover the capacity [4] of the two spheres
which is equal to 2a((
1
) + (
2
)) (see [7]).
In a similar way, using (28), (57), (61), and (62), it is shown that
_
S1S2
u
1
(r

)
n

ds(r

)
= 16a
2

n=0
1
2n + 1
[K

n
(
1
)e
(n+
1
2
)1
K

n
(
2
)e
(n+
1
2
)2
],
(77)
where the vanishing of the contributions from the terms involving the functions
n
()
is due to the orthogonality with respect to the azimuthal angle.
382 A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS, G. DASSIOS, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU
Some more calculations lead to
K

n
(
1
)e
(n+
1
2
)1
K

n
(
2
)e
(n+
1
2
)2
= 2k
3
_
n +
1
2
_
2
e
(2n+1)1
e
(2n+1)2
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
2C
_
n +
1
2
_
e
(2n+1)1
+e
(2n+1)2
2
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
,
(78)
which by substitution into (77) yields
_
S1S2
u
1
(r

)
n

ds(r

)
= 8a
2
k
3

n=0
(2n + 1)
e
(2n+1)1
e
(2n+1)2
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
16a
2
((
1
) + (
2
))
2
.
(79)
Because of the uniform convergence of the series in (36), which denes the function
(), we can easily conclude that

n=0
(2n + 1)
e
(2n+1)1
e
(2n+1)2
e
(2n+1)(1+2)
1
=

(
1
)

(
2
), (80)
which implies that
_
S1S2
u
1
(r

)
n

ds(r

) = 8a
2
k
3
(

(
1
)

(
2
)) 16a
2
((
1
) + (
2
))
2
. (81)
Combining techniques similar to that used to obtain (75) and (81) we arrive at the
value of the third integral in (66), which is
_
S1S2
(r r

)
u
0
(r

)
n

ds(r

) = 8a
2
O
3
(

(
1
)

(
2
)), (82)
where r = (O
1
, O
2
, O
3
).
Introducing the expressions (75), (81), and (82) in (66) we obtain the following
low-frequency approximation of the scattering amplitude:
g(r,

k) = 2ikaA2(ka)
2
[(O
3
k
3
)B + 2A
2
] + 0((ka)
3
), ka 0, (83)
where
A = (
1
) + (
2
) (84)
and
B =

(
1
)

(
2
). (85)
It is interesting to note that the rst-order approximation of g is a monopole term
with respect to both the direction of incidence and the direction of observation. On
the other hand, the second-order approximation involves a monopole and a dipole
LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING BY TWO SOFT SPHERES 383
term which vanish whenever the two spheres are equal. Hence, for equal spheres the
second-order approximation of g is isotropic, just as the rst-order is. This remark
could be useful in inverse scattering, since it provides the information that, if the rst-
and the second-order terms of the low-frequency approximation of g do not change
with the variation of either the direction of incidence or the direction of observation,
then the two spheres are equal.
For equal spheres, i.e., for
1
=
2
, the scattering amplitude reduces to the simple
form
g(r,

k) = 4ika(
1
) + [4ika(
1
)]
2
+ 0(k
3
). (86)
If we substitute the expression (83) for the scattering amplitude into the formula
=
1
k
2
_
S
2
|g(r,

k)|
2
ds(r), (87)
which denes the scattering cross-section as the L
2
-norm of g on the unit sphere, we
obtain
= 4a
2
_
S
2
[A
2
+ 4k
2
a
2
A
4
+ 4k
2
a
2
(O
3
k
3
)A
2
B +k
2
a
2
(O
3
k
3
)
2
B
2
] ds(r)
= 16a
2
_
A
2
+ (ka)
2
_
(2A
2
k
3
B)
2
+
B
2
3
__
+ 0((ka)
4
), ka 0.
(88)
Here also we can ascertain if the two spheres are equal or not by varying the direction
of incidence and observing whether the scattering cross-section changes.
6. Discussion. The bispherical coordinate system provides the appropriate en-
vironment for solving multiple scattering problems by two spheres. This is true only
in the low-frequency realm since Laplace equation accepts R-separation in bispher-
ical coordinates while Helmholtzs equation does not. The bispherical system is a
rotational system [6] with two coordinate surfaces generated by rotating a complete
circle and a circular arc, and a third one which describes a meridean plane. The
surfaces of the two scattering spheres are depicted from two dierent values of the
coordinate variable describing the complete spheres, while the far eld is limited to a
small neighborhood of the origin within the parametric space of the variables and .
In accord with the theory of multiple scattering [9, 10], all the results obtained for
the near and the far elds are expressed in a series form which conrms the multiple
interaction between each one of the spheres and the eld scattered from the order.
Since we solve the problem analytically without any computational error, all orders
of the multiple scattering processes [9, 10] are included. Nevertheless, as shown in
Figures 2 and 3, because of the exponential behavior of the terms dening the series
A and B in (36), (84), and (85), the convergence is so fast that the restriction to two
leading terms alone derives results which are satisfactory for any practical purpose.
In the terminology of multiple scattering theory, this means that rst-order mul-
tiple scattering [9, 10] is enough for this particular problem. Hence, for practical
applications it is enough to consider as an incident eld impinging on each one of the
spheres the external illumination eld plus the outcome of its rst interaction with
the other sphere.
The leading approximation of the scattering amplitude is proportional to the rst
power of the wavenumber and is isotropic since it is expressible in terms of a monopole
term. The next approximation of the scattering amplitude, which is proportional to
384 A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS, G. DASSIOS, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU
FIG. 2. (a) 3D plot of the series A approximated with n = 5 terms. (b) 2D plots of the series
A, for
1
= 1, approximated with n = 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 terms.
the second power of the wavenumber, is expressible in terms of a monopole and a
dipole term. The dipole term measures the discrepancy between the size of the two
spheres and it vanishes whenever the two spheres become equal. Furthermore, this
discrepancy is not visible whenever the angles that the direction of observation and
the direction of incidence make with the axis of symmetry are equal. In other words,
if the direction of incidence makes an angle
0
with the axis determined by the two
centers of the scattering spheres, then any observation along the right circular cone
of angle
0
will not reveal any size dierence between the two spheres.
Finally, we remark that the eectiveness of the bispherical system in producing
analytic results for multiple scattering problems could be utilized to obtain more ana-
lytic results which can be used as reference tools for discussing credibility of numerical
codes.
LOW-FREQUENCY SCATTERING BY TWO SOFT SPHERES 385
FIG. 3. (a) 3D plot of the series B approximated with n = 5 terms. (b) 2D plots of the series
B, for
1
= 1, approximated with n = 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 terms.
Appendix. In order to adapt a bispherical coordinate system to the given pair
of spheres we have to solve the system
a
1
sinh
1
= a, (A.1)
a
2
sinh
2
= a, (A.2)
1
tanh
1
+
1
tanh
2
=
d
a
(A.3)
386 A. CHARALAMBOPOULOS, G. DASSIOS, AND M. HADJINICOLAOU
with respect to the unknowns a,
1
, and
2
. Equations (A.1), (A.2) imply
cosh
1
=

1 +
a
2
a
2
1
, (A.4)
cosh
2
=

1 +
a
2
a
2
2
. (A.5)
Substituting (A.1), (A.2), (A.4), and (A.5) into (A.3) we arrive at
_
a
2
1
+a
2
+
_
a
2
2
+a
2
= d (A.6)
or, after eliminating the square roots,
4d
2
a
2
= d
4
+ (a
2
1
a
2
2
)
2
2d
2
(a
2
1
+a
2
2
) = [d
2
(a
1
a
2
)
2
][d
2
(a
1
+a
2
)
2
], (A.7)
which implies (7).
From (A.1), (A.2) we obtain

i
= sinh
1
a
a
i
= ln
a +
_
a
2
+a
2
i
a
i
, i = 1, 2. (A.8)
Finally, substituting (7) into (A.8) for i = 1 and 2, we obtain (8) and (9), respectively.
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[1] J. J. BOWMAN, T. B. A. SENIOR, AND P. L. E. USLENGHI, Electromagnetic and Acoustic
Scattering by Simple Shapes, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1969.
[2] D. COLTON AND R. KRESS, Integral Equation Methods in Scattering Theory, John Wiley, New
York, 1983.
[3] D. COLTON AND R. KRESS, Inverse Acoustic and Electromagnetic Scattering Theory, Springer-
Verlag, Berlin, 1992.
[4] G. DASSIOS AND R. E. KLEINMAN, On Kelvin inversion and low-frequency scattering, SIAM
Rev., 31 (1989), pp. 565585.
[5] G. DASSIOS AND R. E. KLEINMAN, Low-frequency scattering by targets above a ground plane,
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[9] V. TWERSKY, Multiple scattering by arbitrary conguration in three dimensions, J. Math.
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[10] V. TWERSKY, Multiple scattering of electromagnetic waves by arbitrary congurations,
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