Open AccessDistorted mirror images organised by cuspoid and umbilic caustics
Author(s) -
Michael Berry
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of optics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2040-8986
pISSN - 2040-8978
DOI - 10.1088/2040-8986/ac2f72
Subject(s) - caustic (mathematics) , physics , cusp (singularity) , reflection (computer programming) , optics , object (grammar) , refraction , point (geometry) , face (sociological concept) , curved mirror , space (punctuation) , geometry , artificial intelligence , mathematics , computer science , mathematical physics , social science , sociology , programming language , operating system
The anatomy of the distorted and topologically disrupted images of an extended object after reflection by curved mirrors, and of their refraction analogues, e.g. in gravitational lensing, is determined by the caustic surfaces enveloping the ray family issuing from each point of the object. Simulations are presented of reflections of the same object when organised by each of the five caustics (elementary catastrophes) that are stable in three-dimensional space: the fold, cusp, swallowtail, elliptic and hyperbolic umbilic catastrophes. The object is a picture of a face, whose familiar features make the image distortions and disruptions easier to understand. An important distinction is between mirrors curved in one direction and those curved in two.