Pith. sign in

REVIEW 2 major objections 1 minor 43 references

Acoustic scattering objects are cloned by retrieving their Green's functions and driving real-time holograms that match the original response.

Reviewed by Pith at T0; open to challenge. T0 means a machine referee read the full paper against a public rubric. the ladder, T0–T4 →

Challenge this review Re-run · record.json Download PDF Read on arXiv ↗

T0 review · grok-4.3

2026-06-27 17:33 UTC pith:UCPYTUTL

load-bearing objection The paper shows a working experimental pipeline for acoustic cloning in 2D via MDD plus holographic feedback, but the exact-match claim needs quantitative error checks on arbitrary incidences. the 2 major comments →

arxiv 2606.08614 v1 pith:UCPYTUTL submitted 2026-06-07 physics.app-ph eess.SPphysics.class-ph

Acoustic Cloning

Jonas M\"uller , Theodor S. Becker , Xun Li , Johannes Aichele , Marc Serra-Garcia , Johan O. A. Robertsson , Dirk-Jan van Manen This is my paper
classification physics.app-ph eess.SPphysics.class-ph
keywords acoustic cloningscattering Green's functionsmultidimensional deconvolutionacoustic holographydigital twinwave scatteringreal-time simulation
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved

The pith

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper shows a two-step experimental method to produce acoustic clones of physical scatterers. Broadband sound sources illuminate the object inside a closed array of receivers, and multidimensional deconvolution extracts the full set of scattering responses. These responses then drive a numerical hologram that interacts with any incoming wave exactly as the real object would. The result is a digital twin that reproduces all multiple-scattering effects at low latency. This enables fully realistic virtual scatterers without needing the physical object present.

Core claim

Scattering objects are cloned by first using multidimensional deconvolution on reverberative data collected within a closed receiver aperture to obtain the object's scattering Green's functions, then using those functions to holographically reconstruct the scatterer so that it scatters any wavefield in real time identically to the original.

What carries the argument

Scattering Green's functions retrieved by multidimensional deconvolution, which fully encode the object's wave response and are used to drive the acoustic hologram.

Load-bearing premise

Multidimensional deconvolution recovers the object's complete scattering Green's functions from the closed-aperture data without missing information or large artifacts caused by the experimental geometry.

What would settle it

Measure the scattered pressure field produced by the hologram and by the physical object for the same broadband incident wave; the fields must agree within measurement noise across the receiver array.

Watch this falsifier — get emailed when new claim-graph text bears on it.

If this is right

  • The hologram reproduces every order of multiple scattering between the wavefield and the object in real time.
  • Digital scattering models become fully realistic and interactive without physical prototypes.
  • Metamaterial designs can be tested by modifying the numerical hologram instead of fabricating new physical samples.
  • Any incident wavefield, including those not used in the original measurement, produces identical scattering.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • The same data-driven cloning approach could be tested in three-dimensional open domains where the closed-aperture assumption no longer holds.
  • Real-time modification of the cloned object's properties would allow rapid acoustic design iterations without physical changes.
  • The method might extend to other wave types if the deconvolution and hologram steps are adapted to the governing equations.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit.

Referee Report

2 major / 1 minor

Summary. The paper claims a two-step experimental method for acoustic cloning of scattering objects in a 2D waveguide: (1) illuminate a physical scatterer with broadband sources inside a closed receiver aperture and retrieve its scattering Green's functions via multidimensional deconvolution of the reverberant recordings; (2) insert those Green's functions into a real-time holographic feedback loop that reproduces the object's scattering response for arbitrary incident fields, including all orders of multiple scattering. The method is demonstrated on several rigid scatterers, with applications suggested for digital twins and metamaterial testing.

Significance. If the central claim holds with the stated accuracy, the work would supply a practical route to experimentally validated, real-time digital scattering models that can be modified on the fly, offering a bridge between physical measurements and numerical wave simulations without requiring full-wave inversion or parameter fitting.

major comments (2)
  1. [Abstract] Abstract and method description: the assertion that the hologram 'scatters any wavefield in real-time exactly like the original object' is load-bearing for the cloning claim, yet the provided information supplies no quantitative support (e.g., L2-norm error on scattered pressure, phase mismatch, or comparison against direct measurements for out-of-training incidences).
  2. [Method (MDD retrieval)] Multidimensional deconvolution step: in a finite closed-aperture geometry the MDD operator is formally under-determined for evanescent components and higher-order multiples; without explicit regularization details, aperture-truncation analysis, or error propagation estimates, it is unclear whether the retrieved Green's functions are sufficiently artifact-free to support the exact-cloning assertion.
minor comments (1)
  1. [Abstract] The phrase 'bring it back to life' is colloquial; replace with a more precise description of the holographic reconstruction.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

2 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the constructive feedback on our manuscript. We address each major comment below and will incorporate revisions to provide the requested quantitative support and methodological details.

read point-by-point responses

  1. Referee: [Abstract] Abstract and method description: the assertion that the hologram 'scatters any wavefield in real-time exactly like the original object' is load-bearing for the cloning claim, yet the provided information supplies no quantitative support (e.g., L2-norm error on scattered pressure, phase mismatch, or comparison against direct measurements for out-of-training incidences).

    Authors: We agree that the cloning claim requires quantitative backing. The manuscript presents a proof-of-concept demonstration, but we will revise the abstract and add a new subsection in the results with L2-norm errors on scattered pressure, phase mismatch metrics, and direct comparisons for out-of-training incidences to substantiate the real-time holographic reconstruction accuracy. revision: yes

  2. Referee: [Method (MDD retrieval)] Multidimensional deconvolution step: in a finite closed-aperture geometry the MDD operator is formally under-determined for evanescent components and higher-order multiples; without explicit regularization details, aperture-truncation analysis, or error propagation estimates, it is unclear whether the retrieved Green's functions are sufficiently artifact-free to support the exact-cloning assertion.

    Authors: The referee correctly notes the formal under-determination in finite apertures. We will expand the methods section to include the specific regularization scheme employed, aperture-truncation analysis, and error propagation estimates, showing that artifacts remain below the threshold needed for the observed cloning fidelity in our 2D waveguide experiments. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No circularity: experimental cloning procedure is self-contained

full rationale

The paper presents a two-step experimental workflow—broadband illumination within a closed receiver aperture, retrieval of scattering Green's functions via multidimensional deconvolution, followed by real-time holographic feedback—without any mathematical derivation chain that reduces the central claim (exact scattering equivalence) to fitted parameters or self-citations by construction. No equations are shown that define the output in terms of the input or rename a fit as a prediction. The result rests on physical measurements and hardware implementation rather than tautological steps, consistent with the reader's assessment of independence. Self-citations, if present, are not load-bearing for the experimental outcome.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 1 axioms · 0 invented entities

The central claim rests on standard assumptions from wave physics and signal processing regarding the validity of multidimensional deconvolution in reverberant closed apertures; no free parameters, invented entities, or additional axioms are identifiable from the abstract.

axioms (1)
  • domain assumption Multidimensional deconvolution can accurately retrieve scattering Green's functions from reverberative data acquired in a closed receiver aperture.
    Invoked as the first step to obtain the data needed for holographic reconstruction.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.1-grok · 5692 in / 1105 out tokens · 17185 ms · 2026-06-27T17:33:20.951017+00:00 · methodology

0 comments
read the original abstract

Cloning refers to producing identical copies of existing objects. Here, we experimentally show how to clone acoustic scattering objects. We acquire a digital twin and bring it back to life - a simple two-step process. First, we use broadband speakers to illuminate the scattering object within a closed receiver aperture. From these recorded reverberative data, we retrieve the object's scattering Green's functions using multidimensional deconvolution. In the second step, the acoustic scatterer is holographically reconstructed using the acquired scattering Green's functions. The hologram scatters any wavefield in real-time exactly like the original object would. Low-latency feedback reproduces all orders of interactions between the physical wavefield and the numerically defined hologram. This two-step process is demonstrated by cloning and modifying several rigid scatterers in a two-dimensional acoustic waveguide. Applications range from fully realistic digital scattering models to efficient metamaterial experimentation.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2606.08614 by Dirk-Jan van Manen, Johannes Aichele, Johan O. A. Robertsson, Jonas M\"uller, Marc Serra-Garcia, Theodor S. Becker, Xun Li.

Figure 1
Figure 1. Figure 1: FIG. 1. Configuration for scattering Green’s functions retrieval using multidimensional deconvolution. The sound [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p004_1.png] view at source ↗
Figure 2
Figure 2. Figure 2: FIG. 2. Real-time broadband holography configuration. Dotted circles represent outer recording surface [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p005_2.png] view at source ↗
Figure 3
Figure 3. Figure 3: FIG. 3. Visualization of the two-step process for acoustic [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p006_3.png] view at source ↗
Figure 4
Figure 4. Figure 4: FIG. 4. Illustration of wave propagation in the physical domain and simultaneous numerical extrapolation from [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p007_4.png] view at source ↗
Figure 5
Figure 5. Figure 5: FIG. 5. The physical setup is depicted in (a) and sketched in (b). The outermost circle represents a rigid boundary [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p008_5.png] view at source ↗
Figure 6
Figure 6. Figure 6: FIG. 6. The total pressure field in (a), for the heterogeneous case with circular scatterer, is separated into the incident [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p009_6.png] view at source ↗
Figure 7
Figure 7. Figure 7: FIG. 7. Green’s functions retrieved with multidimensional deconvolution from reverberative data in Fig. 6. Only [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p010_7.png] view at source ↗
Figure 8
Figure 8. Figure 8: FIG. 8. Recorded pressure [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p011_8.png] view at source ↗
Figure 9
Figure 9. Figure 9: FIG. 9. Comparison of the scattered angular intensities between the real scatterers and the holographically reproduced [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p012_9.png] view at source ↗
Figure 10
Figure 10. Figure 10: FIG. 10. Scattered pressure [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p013_10.png] view at source ↗
Figure 11
Figure 11. Figure 11: FIG. 11. Wavefield separation method in the frequency [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p015_11.png] view at source ↗
Figure 12
Figure 12. Figure 12: FIG. 12. Construction of tangential, local coordinate sur [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p015_12.png] view at source ↗
Figure 13
Figure 13. Figure 13: FIG. 13. Green’s function retrieval using MDD. Further [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p016_13.png] view at source ↗
Figure 14
Figure 14. Figure 14: FIG. 14. Real-time broadband holography. With [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p017_14.png] view at source ↗

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Reference graph

Works this paper leans on

43 extracted references · 1 canonical work pages

  1. [1]

    Gabor, Holography, 1948-1971, Science177, 299 (1972)

    D. Gabor, Holography, 1948-1971, Science177, 299 (1972)

    1948

  2. [2]

    M. H. De La Torre I., F. Mendoza Santoyo, J. M. Flo- res M., and M. D. S. Hernandez-M., Gabor’s holography: Seven decades influencing optics [Invited], Applied Op- tics61, B225 (2022)

    2022

  3. [3]

    Hariharan,Basics of Holography(Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2002)

    P. Hariharan,Basics of Holography(Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2002)

    2002

  4. [4]

    J. D. Maynard, E. G. Williams, and Y. Lee, Nearfield acoustic holography: I. Theory of generalized hologra- phy and the development of NAH, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America78, 1395 (1985)

    1985

  5. [5]

    Mueller, Acoustic holography, Proceedings of the IEEE59, 1319 (1971)

    R. Mueller, Acoustic holography, Proceedings of the IEEE59, 1319 (1971)

    1971

  6. [6]

    Y. Tian, Q. Wei, Y. Cheng, and X. Liu, Acoustic holog- raphy based on composite metasurface with decoupled modulationofphaseandamplitude,AppliedPhysicsLet- ters110, 191901 (2017)

    2017

  7. [7]

    Y. Zhu, J. Hu, X. Fan, J. Yang, B. Liang, X. Zhu, and J. Cheng, Fine manipulation of sound via lossy metama- terials with independent and arbitrary reflection ampli- tude and phase, Nature Communications9, 1632 (2018)

    2018

  8. [8]

    Zhang, Y

    J. Zhang, Y. Tian, Y. Cheng, and X. Liu, Acoustic holog- raphy using composite metasurfaces, Applied Physics Letters116, 030501 (2020). 14

    2020

  9. [9]

    Y. Zhu, N. J. Gerard, X. Xia, G. C. Stevenson, L. Cao, S. Fan, C. M. Spadaccini, Y. Jing, and B. As- souar, Systematic Design and Experimental Demonstra- tion of Transmission-Type Multiplexed Acoustic Meta- holograms, Advanced Functional Materials31, 2101947 (2021)

    2021

  10. [10]

    Ji and J

    G. Ji and J. Huber, Recent progress in acoustic metama- terials and active piezoelectric acoustic metamaterials - A review, Applied Materials Today26, 101260 (2022)

    2022

  11. [11]

    X. Chen, X. Xu, S. Ai, H. Chen, Y. Pei, and X. Zhou, Ac- tive acoustic metamaterials with tunable effective mass density by gradient magnetic fields, Applied Physics Let- ters105, 071913 (2014)

    2014

  12. [12]

    B.-I. Popa, D. Shinde, A. Konneker, and S. A. Cummer, Activeacousticmetamaterialsreconfigurableinrealtime, Physical Review B91, 220303 (2015)

    2015

  13. [13]

    Liang, S

    L. Xiao-Shuang, Y.-F. Wang, A.-L. Chen, and Y.-S. Wang, An arbitrarily curved acoustic metasurface for three-dimensional reflected wave-front modulation, Jour- nal of Physics D: Applied Physics53, 10.1088/1361- 6463/ab7327 (2020)

    work page doi:10.1088/1361- 2020

  14. [14]

    X. Li, T. Becker, M. Ravasi, J. Robertsson, and D.-J. van Manen, Closed-aperture unbounded acoustics exper- imentation using multidimensional deconvolution, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America149, 1813 (2021)

    2021

  15. [15]

    T. S. Becker, D.-J. Van Manen, T. Haag, C. Bärlocher, X. Li, N. Börsing, A. Curtis, M. Serra-Garcia, and J. O. A. Robertsson, Broadband acoustic invisibility and illusions, Science Advances7, eabi9627 (2021)

    2021

  16. [16]

    Wapenaar, J

    K. Wapenaar, J. van der Neut, E. Ruigrok, D. Draganov, J. Hunziker, E. Slob, J. Thorbecke, and R. Snieder, Seismic interferometry by crosscorrelation and by mul- tidimensional deconvolution: A systematic compari- son: Seismic interferometry, Geophysical Journal Inter- national185, 1335 (2011)

    2011

  17. [17]

    Amundsen, Elimination of free-surface related multi- ples without need of the source wavelet, GEOPHYSICS 66, 327 (2001)

    L. Amundsen, Elimination of free-surface related multi- ples without need of the source wavelet, GEOPHYSICS 66, 327 (2001)

    2001

  18. [18]

    Amundsen and L

    L. Amundsen and L. T. Ikelle, Multidimensional Signa- ture Deconvolution and Free-Surface Multiple Elimina- tion of 4C Data, in62nd EAGE Conference & Exhibi- tion(European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, Glasgow, UK„ 2000)

    2000

  19. [19]

    Vasmel, J

    M. Vasmel, J. O. A. Robertsson, and L. Amundsen, A model-independent finite-difference method for removal of free-surface generated multiples, GEOPHYSICS81, T79 (2016)

    2016

  20. [20]

    Ting and M

    L. Ting and M. J. Miksis, Exact boundary conditions for scattering problems, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America80, 1825 (1986)

    1986

  21. [21]

    Givoli and D

    D. Givoli and D. Cohen, Nonreflecting Boundary Con- ditions Based on Kirchhoff-Type Formulae, Journal of Computational Physics117, 102 (1995)

    1995

  22. [22]

    van Manen, J

    D.-J. van Manen, J. O. A. Robertsson, and A. Curtis, Exact wave field simulation for finite-volume scattering problems, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Amer- ica122, EL115 (2007)

    2007

  23. [23]

    Broggini, M

    F. Broggini, M. Vasmel, J. O. A. Robertsson, and D.- J. van Manen, Immersive boundary conditions: Theory, implementation, and examples, GEOPHYSICS82, T97 (2017)

    2017

  24. [24]

    A. J. Berkhout, D. De Vries, and P. Vogel, Acoustic con- trol by wave field synthesis, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America93, 2764 (1993)

    1993

  25. [25]

    A. J. Berkhout, D. De Vries, and J. J. Sonke, Array tech- nology for acoustic wave field analysis in enclosures, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America102, 2757 (1997)

    1997

  26. [26]

    De Vries and M

    D. De Vries and M. Boone, Wave field synthesis and anal- ysis using array technology, inProceedings of the 1999 IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics. W ASPAA’99 (Cat. No.99TH8452) (IEEE, New Paltz, NY, USA, 1999) pp. 15–18

    1999

  27. [27]

    Vasmel, J

    M. Vasmel, J. O. A. Robertsson, D.-J. van Manen, and A. Curtis, Immersive experimentation in a wave propa- gation laboratory, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America134, EL492 (2013)

    2013

  28. [28]

    T. S. Becker, D.-J. van Manen, C. M. Donahue, C. Bär- locher, N. Börsing, F. Broggini, T. Haag, J. O. A. Robertsson, D. R. Schmidt, S. A. Greenhalgh, and T. E. Blum, Immersive Wave Propagation Experimentation: Physical Implementation and One-Dimensional Acoustic Results, Physical Review X8, 031011 (2018)

    2018

  29. [29]

    H. R. Thomsen, M. Molerón, T. Haag, D.-J. Van Ma- nen, and J. O. A. Robertsson, Elastic immersive wave experimentation: Theory and physical implementation, Physical Review Research1, 033203 (2019)

    2019

  30. [30]

    van Manen, M

    D.-J. van Manen, M. Vasmel, S. Greenhalgh, and J. O. A. Robertsson,Broadbandcloakingandholographywithex- act boundary conditions, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America137, EL415 (2015)

    2015

  31. [31]

    Börsing, T

    N. Börsing, T. S. Becker, A. Curtis, D.-J. van Manen, T. Haag, and J. O. Robertsson, Cloaking and Hologra- phy Experiments Using Immersive Boundary Conditions, Physical Review Applied12, 024011 (2019)

    2019

  32. [32]

    J. T. Fokkema and P. M. van den Berg,Seismic Appli- cations of Acoustic Reciprocity(Elsevier, Amsterdam ; New York, 1993)

    1993

  33. [33]

    A. T. de Hoop,Handbook of Radiation and Scattering of Waves: Acoustic Waves in Fluid, Elastic Waves in Solids, Electromagnetic Waves(Acad. Press, London, 1995)

    1995

  34. [34]

    Ravasi, G

    M. Ravasi, G. Meles, A. Curtis, Z. Rawlinson, and L. Yikuo, Seismic interferometry by multidimensional deconvolution without wavefield separation, Geophysical Journal International202, 1 (2015)

    2015

  35. [35]

    Sønneland, L

    L. Sønneland, L. E. Berg, P. Eidsvig, A. Haugen, B. Fot- land, and J. Vestby, 2-D deghosting using vertical re- ceiver arrays, inSEG Technical Program Expanded Ab- stracts 1986(Society of Exploration Geophysicists, 1986) pp. 516–519

    1986

  36. [36]

    R. C. Aster and C. H. Thurber,Parameter Estima- tion and Inverse Problems, 2nd ed. (Academic Press, Waltham, MA, 2013)

    2013

  37. [37]

    Wapenaar, J

    K. Wapenaar, J. Van Der Neut, and E. Ruigrok, Pas- sive seismic interferometry by multidimensional decon- volution, GEOPHYSICS73, A51 (2008)

    2008

  38. [38]

    Van Der Neut, M

    J. Van Der Neut, M. Frijlink, and R. Van Borselen, Data matching for free-surface multiple attenuation by multi- dimensional deconvolution:Data matching for multiple attenuation, Geophysical Journal International191, 743 (2012)

    2012

  39. [39]

    Sternini, S

    S. Sternini, S. T. Rakotonarivo, J. Sarkar, A. Bottero, W. A. Kuperman, and E. G. Williams, Bistatic scattering of an elastic object using the structural admittance and noise-based holographic measurements, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America148, 734 (2020). 15

    2020

  40. [40]

    C. C. Paige and M. A. Saunders, LSQR: An algorithm for sparse linear equations and sparse least squares, ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software8, 43 (1982)

    1982

  41. [41]

    M.RavasiandI.Vasconcelos,PyLops—Alinear-operator Python library for scalable algebra and optimization, SoftwareX11, 100361 (2020)

    2020

  42. [42]

    Ferber and D.-J

    R. Ferber and D.-J. van Manen, Noise transfer in variable-depth streamer deghosting: Noise transfer streamer deghosting, Geophysical Prospecting65, 903 (2017)

    2017

  43. [43]

    L. L. Beranek and T. J. Mellow,Acoustics: Sound Fields and Transducers(Elsevier, 2012). Appendix A: Wavefield separation along a circular array For acoustic cloning the required Green’s functions are obtained experimentally from the method of multidimen- sional deconvolution. This method relies on separating the wavefield on the recording surfaceS O into ...

    2012