On the Linear Water Wave Problem in the Presence of a Critically Submerged Body

We study the two-dimensional problem of propagation of linear water waves in deep water in the presence of a critically submerged body (i.e., the body touching the water surface). Assuming uniqueness of the solution in the energy space, we prove the existence of a solution which satisfies the radiation conditions at infinity as well as at the cusp point where the body touches the water surface. This solution is obtained by the limiting absorption procedure. Next we introduce a relevant scattering matrix and analyze its properties. Under a geometric condition introduced by V. Maz’ya in 1978, we prove an important property of the scattering matrix, which may be interpreted as the absence of total internal reflection. This property also allows us to obtain uniqueness and existence of a solution in some function spaces (e.g., H2 loc ∩ L∞) without use of the radiation conditions and the limiting absorption principle, provided a spectral parameter in the boundary conditions on the surface of the water is large enough. The fact that the existence and uniqueness result does not rely on either the radiation conditions or the limiting absorption principle is the first result of this type known to us in the theory of linear wave problems in unbounded domains.