Geometry information and approximation cost in recessed-aperture transport
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: How much geometry do we need to predict the light transmitted through a recessed opening? Consider a square opening and an elongated rectangular opening with the same area, depth and orientation. Under the oblique 2° illumination cone studied here, their predicted transmissions differ by more than 15.625 percentage points. The paper proves this bound analytically. A model given only the shared geometry record cannot predict both transmissions to within one percentage point. The paper derives this result for straight recesses with absorbing walls. A 352-case computational benchmark examines how accurately different numerical methods predict transmission when the geometry is available. The paper also specifies how to compare the two openings in a future physical experiment. Independent technical comments on the model and computations are welcome. Read the paper (Working Revision 7, PDF) Get the code, data and reproduction instructions (ZIP) Read the four technical review questions (PDF) Original project code is licensed under MIT. The manuscript, data, figures and documentation are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Third-party materials retain their own terms.
Author: Nasr, Mostafa
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223993221