For , . Hence the numerator and denominator of the combined independent-edge radiation from an open planar duct both vanish at . At the positive angle, the ratio has the removable limit
At the negative angle the ratio changes sign, as does , so both directions give the same total velocity potential. Since , the result is
For the zero mode, use directly: . Its two directions coincide and
The two-edge field is finite in the constituent propagation directions. Its magnitude there is enhanced by a factor of order over an ordinary isolated-edge diffracted amplitude away from a shadow boundary. An isolated-edge angular formula has a pole in these directions, because its geometrical optics and edge-wave split is nonuniform; the exact single-edge field is not infinite. In the combined field the equal and opposite pole residues cancel, and the difference of endpoint propagation phases produces the finite limit above. Taking this combined limit describes the leading far-field beam; it does not justify evaluating either nonuniform single-edge expression separately at its pole.
Take a cut-on mode with , put and , so , , and initially take . The acoustic waveguide mode splits into two acoustic plane waves:
At the upper edge , the upward-going constituent is incident from below. Use the reflected local coordinate ; its incident potential becomes , with local incidence angle . At the lower edge use and the downward-going constituent; it has the same local incident amplitude and incidence angle. At each wall the other constituent is the geometrical optics reflection of this incident half-amplitude, so it must not be counted again as an independent incident wave at the same edge.
Let . For a far observer, the upper and lower local observation angles are and , and their distances are and . Applying the Wiener-Hopf solution of rigid half-plane diffraction separately gives
The sign difference is the reversal of the upper-edge transverse coordinate. Their sum is the leading independent-edge radiation from an open planar duct:
Restore if a time-dependent potential is desired. This is the leading large- approximation, neglecting further diffraction between edges, and assumes a far-field distance as well as . It is not a uniform approximation for a mode approaching cutoff. The zero mode follows as the grazing-incidence limit ; its beam-direction limit is treated separately below.