On the selection of boundary conditions as applied to smooth surface cylinder scatterers

This paper addresses the issue of whether the inclusion of normal boundary conditions to a class of problems involving transverse magnetic (TM) scattering from ideal homogeneous dielectric cylinders, of various sizes and eccentricity values, is necessary in the assurance that Maxwell's equations are fulfilled at the dielectric interface. How well the boundary continuity equations are satisfied is appraised by computing the average error of the tangential field components, over the entire two-dimensional surface, for boundary conditions involving the tangential component only, and with the inclusion of the normal component of the fields. Developing an understanding of which boundary equations are absolutely necessary on a given surface, can reduce the time and complexity of numerical simulations.