AN OVER-RELAXATION METHOD FOR THE ITERATIVE SOLUTION OF INTEGRAL-EQUATIONS IN SCATTERING PROBLEMS

A simple iterative method for solving many of the integral equations arising in scattering problems is presented. By introducing a relaxation parameter the equation is changed to one which may be solved as a Neumann series. An explicit choice of the relaxation parameter is proposed which does not require detailed knowledge of the spectrum nor does the method require the symmetrization of the, in general, non-selfadjoint integral operators that occur. Convergence of the method is demonstrated in examples where the Neumann series for the original equation either diverges or converges at a much lower rate. © 1990.