Low regularity ray tracing for wave equations with Gaussian beams

Abstract

We prove observability estimates for oscillatory Cauchy data modulo a small kernel for $n$-dimensional wave equations with space and time dependent $C^2$ and $C^{1,1}$ coefficients using Gaussian beams. We assume the domains and observability regions are in $\mathbb {R}^n$, and the GCC applies. This work generalizes previous observability estimates to higher dimensions and time dependent coefficients. The construction for the Gaussian beamlets solving $C^{1,1}$ wave equations represents an improvement and simplification over Waters (2011).