Integral equations requiring small numbers of Krylov-subspace iterations for two-dimensional penetrable scattering problems

This paper presents a class of boundary integral equations for the solution of problems of electromagnetic and acoustic scattering by two dimensional homogeneous penetrable scatterers with smooth boundaries. The new integral equations, which, as is established in this paper, are uniquely solvable Fredholm equations of the second kind, result from representations of fields as combinations of single and double layer potentials acting on appropriately chosen regularizing operators. As demonstrated in this text by means of a variety of numerical examples (that resulted from a high-order Nystrom computational implementation of the new equations), these "regularized combined equations" can give rise to important reductions in computational costs, for a given accuracy, over those resulting from previous boundary integral formulations for transmission problems.