Paper 3, Section II, 38A
Part II, 2010
Consider the equation
where is a positive constant. Find the dispersion relation for waves of frequency and wavenumber . Sketch graphs of the phase velocity and the group velocity .
A disturbance localized near at evolves into a dispersing wave packet. Will the wavelength and frequency of the waves passing a stationary observer located at a large positive value of increase or decrease for ? In which direction do the crests pass the observer?
Write down the solution with initial value
What can be said about if is real?
Use the method of stationary phase to obtain an approximation for for fixed and large . What can be said about the solution at for large ?
[You may assume that for .]