Trapped acoustic energy and resonances in spherical scatterers

Abstract

The effectiveness of biochemical antivirals are vulnerable to mutations, motivating physical approaches. Recent experiments with ultrasound reveal viral disruption at MHz frequencies, yet the mechanism remains unclear. We model viruses as fluid-like inclusions and analyze internal acoustic fields. Exact solutions reveal that impedance mismatch induces resonances even for subwavelength scatterers. Beyond the monopole, higher-order modes trap significant energy with significant resonance peak broadening even in absence of explicit dissipation mechanisms. These findings suggest internal acoustic resonances as a mechanism for viral destabilization and acoustic metamaterial applications.