Pressure Monopoles, Velocity Monopoles, and Hybrid Monopoles in Acoustics

We show that there are two types of acoustic monopoles, namely the pressure monopoles (PMs) and the velocity monopoles (VMs). Under one wave incidence, only the pressure field near a PM at resonance possesses monopolar symmetry, while for a VM at resonance only the velocity field possesses monopolar symmetry. It is the dipolar response function of the monopoles that dictates whether they are PMs or VMs. A hybrid monopolar device with neither velocity nor pressure field symmetry is also demonstrated by combining a VM and a PM, which exhibits two monopole resonances with neither PM nor VM symmetry. The breaking of symmetry could lead to higher absorption of the subwavelength scale devices.