Wave analysis of ray chaos in underwater acoustics

The dispersion of a wave packet in an acoustic medium is considered in the paraxial wave approximation, where the effective potential, due to variatio n of the speed of propagation, varies both with depth and propagation dista nce. The analysis of the resulting parabolic equation, similar to the Schro dinger equation, clearly demonstrates the role of ray chaos in enhancing th e dispersion of the initial packet. However, wave coherence effects are als o seen that suppress the effects of the ray chaos in a manner analogous to the effects of quantum chaos. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S105 4-1500(99)01802-9].