  An analysis is developed linking the form of the sound field from a circular
source to the radial structure of the source, without recourse to far-field or
other approximations. It is found that the information radiated into the field
is limited, with the limit fixed by the wavenumber of source multiplied by the
source radius (Helmholtz number). The acoustic field is found in terms of the
elementary fields generated by a set of line sources whose form is given by
Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind, and whose amplitude is found to be
given by weighted integrals of the radial source term. The analysis is
developed for tonal sources, such as rotors, and, for Helmholtz number less
than two, for random disk sources. In this case, the analysis yields the
cross-spectrum between two points in the acoustic field. The analysis is
applied to the problems of tonal radiation, random source radiation as a model
problem for jet noise, and to noise cancellation, as in active control of noise
from rotors. It is found that the approach gives an accurate model for the
radiation problem and explicitly identifies those parts of a source which
radiate.
