On reflection principles supported on a finite set

AbstractWe investigate the existence of reflection formulas supported on a finite set. It is found that for solutions of the Laplace and Helmholtz equation there are no finitely supported reflection principles unless the support is a single point. This confirms that in order to construct a reflection formula that is not ‘point to point’, it is necessary to consider a continuous support. For solutions of the wave equation ∂2u/∂x∂y=0, there exist finitely supported reflection principles that can be constructed explicitly. For solutions of the telegraph equation ∂2u/∂x∂y+λ2u=0, we show that if a reflection principle is supported on less than five points then it is a point to point reflection principle