Wavevector ($\mathbf{k}$)

A wavevector points in the direction of phase propagation; its magnitude is the wavenumber and its scalar product with position gives the spatial phase.

For a slowly varying local dispersion relation $\omega =\Omega (\mathbf{k};\mathbf{x},t)$, wave-packet rays obey

The WKB method seeks a rapidly oscillating field in the formand determines the phase and slowly varying amplitude order by order in $\epsilon$.

The leading WKB phase obeys an eikonal equation. For a local dispersion relation $\omega =\Omega (k;x,t)$ and $k=\nabla \theta$, it is

On an open set where $u>0$, put $v=\sqrt{u}$. The chain rule gives $\nabla u=2v\nabla v$, so the quadratic eikonal equation is equivalent to $|\nabla v|=1$. For constant positive data $v=v_0$ on a smooth initial curve, the tangential derivative vanishes and the two allowed normal derivatives are ${\partial }_{n}v=\pm 1$. Locally the two solutions are $v=v_0\pm d$, where $d$ is oriented distance along the normal rays; hence $u=(v_0\pm d{)}^2$ wherever the chosen $v$ stays positive and the normal-coordinate map remains invertible.

There are two separate obstructions to using this initial-data chart. A characteristic caustic occurs when normal rays focus and the projection Jacobian determinant vanishes. Alternatively $v$ can reach zero while the geometric rays remain separated: the square-root transformation then ceases to apply and the original Charpit's equations have a degenerate zero-gradient state. A continuation of $u$ beyond either obstruction needs separate justification; squaring an algebraic expression alone does not preserve a prescribed positive square-root branch.

Along a ray $\mathbf{x}(t)$, the derivative of a field $f(\mathbf{x},t)$ is