Inverse caustic problem, that is computing the geometry of a reflector and/or refractor based on a given caustic pattern, is currently not widely studied. In this paper, we propose a technique to solve the inverse caustic problem in which we compute the geometry of a semi-transparent homogeneous refractive object (caustic object) given a directional light source and a set of caustic patterns (e...

Is the internet making us more stupid? The outcome of the US presidential election will be analysed as a caustic case study long after we’re all dead, but the internet must take at least some of the blame. We’re in a post-fact, post-truth, we’ve-had-enough-of-experts era. I remember realising that knowledge no longer meant a date with Index Medicus (young people: this was a multi-volume, paper—...

The propagation of light of distant sources through a distribution of clumpy matter, acting as point mass lenses, produces multiple images that contribute to the total brightness of the observed macroimages. In this paper we refine the theory of gravitational microlensing for a planar distribution of point masses. In the second accompanying paper, we extend the analysis to a three-dimensional l...

Caustics are captivating light patterns created by materials bundling or diverting light by refraction or reflection. We know caustics as random side effects, appearing, for example, at the bottom of a swimming pool. In this paper we show that it is possible to control caustic patterns to form almost any desired shape by optimizing the geometry of the reflective or refractive surface generating...

introduction domestic and industrial swallowing of caustic substances can cause acute and chronic injuries. in the acute phase of care, focus is on the immediate control of tissue damage and perforation, and in the chronic phase, the focus is on the treatment of pharyngeal narrowing and impaired swallowing. conclusions treatment of esophageal burn lesions is by immediate and delayed removing of...

BACKGROUND Esophageal stricture due to caustic ingestion is one of the most difficult problems to manage. Esophageal dilations are the usual treatment and they require a great number of sessions in the majority of cases. This implies time, risks for the patient, anguish for the relatives, and very often, frustration for the physician. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of the application of ...

The caustics of weak shock waves are studied through matched asymptotic expansions. It is shown that these caustics are thinner and more intense than those of smooth waves with a comparable amplitude. This difference in scalings solves a paradox that would have the caustics of weak shock waves behave linearly, even though linear theory for discontinuous fronts predicts infinite amplitudes near ...