Modified Rayleigh Conjecture and applications

Modified Rayleigh conjecture (MRC) in scattering theory is proposed and justified. MRC allows one to develop numerical algorithms for solving direct scattering problems related to acoustic wave scattering by soft and hard obstacles of arbitrary shapes. It gives an error estimate for solving the direct scattering problem. It suggests a numerical method for finding the shape of a starshaped obstacle from the scattering data.