Physlib

Physlib.ClassicalMechanics.WaveEquation.Basic

Wave equation

i. Overview

In this module we define the wave equation in `d`-dimensional Euclidean space, and prove that plane waves are solutions to the wave equation. By a plne wave we mean a function of the form `f(t, x) = f₀(⟪x, s⟫_ℝ - c * t)` where `s` is a direction vector and `c` is the propagation speed.

ii. Key results

- `WaveEquation`: The general form of the wave equation where `c` is the propagation speed. - `planeWave`: A vector-valued plane wave travelling in the direction of `s` with propagation speed `c`. - `planeWave_waveEquation`: The plane wave satisfies the wave equation.

iii. Table of contents

- A. The wave equation - B. Plane wave solutions - B.1. Definition of a plane wave - B.2. Differentiablity conditions - B.3. Time derivatives of plane waves - B.4. Space derivatives of plane waves - B.5. Laplacian of plane waves - B.6. Plane waves satisfy the wave equation - C. Old lemmas used throughout files

iv. References

A. The wave equation

B. Plane wave solutions

B.1. Definition of a plane wave

B.2. Differentiablity conditions

B.3. Time derivatives of plane waves

B.4. Space derivatives of plane waves

B.5. Laplacian of plane waves

B.6. Plane waves satisfy the wave equation

C. Old lemmas used throughout files

These lemmas will eventually be moved, renamed and/or replaced.

21 declarations

definition

Wave equation c2Δf−∂2f∂t2=0c^2 \Delta \mathbf{f} - \frac{\partial^2 \mathbf{f}}{\partial t^2} = 0

The wave equation with propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R} for a vector-valued function f:Time→Space d→Rd\mathbf{f} : \text{Time} \to \text{Space } d \to \mathbb{R}^d is the condition that at time tt and position xx: c2Δf(t,x)−∂2f∂t2(t,x)=0 c^2 \Delta \mathbf{f}(t, x) - \frac{\partial^2 \mathbf{f}}{\partial t^2}(t, x) = 0 where Δ\Delta is the vector Laplacian operator acting on the spatial coordinates and ∂2∂t2\frac{\partial^2}{\partial t^2} denotes the second-order partial derivative with respect to time.

definition

Plane wave f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct)

Given a profile function f0:R→Rdf_0 : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, a propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and a direction ss, the plane wave is defined as the function mapping time tt and position x∈Rdx \in \mathbb{R}^d to the value: f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) where s^\mathbf{\hat{s}} is the unit vector in the direction of ss, and ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard inner product on Rd\mathbb{R}^d.

theorem

Plane wave identity f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct)

For any profile function f0:R→Rdf_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and direction ss with unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, the value of the plane wave at time tt and position x∈Rdx \in \mathbb{R}^d is given by: planeWave(f0,c,s,t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\text{planeWave}(f_0, c, s, t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) where ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard inner product on Rd\mathbb{R}^d.

theorem

Differentiability of Plane Waves with Respect to Time

Suppose f0:R→Rdf_0 : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d is a differentiable profile function, c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R} is the propagation speed, and s^\mathbf{\hat{s}} is a unit direction vector in dd-dimensional Euclidean space. For any fixed position x∈Rdx \in \mathbb{R}^d, the plane wave defined by f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) is differentiable with respect to time tt, where ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard inner product on Rd\mathbb{R}^d.

theorem

Differentiability of Plane Waves with Respect to Space

Suppose f0:R→Rdf_0 : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d is a differentiable profile function, c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R} is the propagation speed, and s^\mathbf{\hat{s}} is a unit direction vector in dd-dimensional Euclidean space. For any fixed time tt, the plane wave defined by f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) is differentiable with respect to the spatial variable x∈Rdx \in \mathbb{R}^d, where ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard inner product.

theorem

Differentiability of f0f_0 implies Differentiability of the Plane Wave f(t,x)f(t, x)

Suppose f0:R→Rdf_0 : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d is a differentiable profile function, c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R} is the propagation speed, and s^\mathbf{\hat{s}} is a unit direction vector in dd-dimensional Euclidean space. Then the plane wave function f:Time×Space d→Rdf: \text{Time} \times \text{Space } d \to \mathbb{R}^d defined by f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) is differentiable with respect to (t,x)(t, x), where ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard inner product on Rd\mathbb{R}^d.

theorem

Time Derivative of a Plane Wave: ∂f∂t=−cf0′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\frac{\partial f}{\partial t} = -c f'_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct)

Let dd be the dimension of the space. Given a differentiable profile function f0:R→Rdf_0 : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, a propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and a direction vector ss with associated unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, let the plane wave be defined as f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct). For any fixed position x∈Rdx \in \mathbb{R}^d, the time derivative of the plane wave is given by: ∂∂tf(t,x)=−cf0′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\frac{\partial}{\partial t} f(t, x) = -c f'_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) where f0′f'_0 denotes the derivative of the profile function f0f_0 and ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard inner product on Rd\mathbb{R}^d.

theorem

Second Time Derivative of a Plane Wave: ∂2f∂t2=c2f0′′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial t^2} = c^2 f''_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct)

Let dd be the dimension of the space. Given a twice continuously differentiable profile function f0:R→Rdf_0 : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, a propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and a direction ss with associated unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, let the plane wave be defined as f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct). For any fixed position x∈Rdx \in \mathbb{R}^d, the second partial derivative of the plane wave with respect to time tt is given by: ∂2∂t2f(t,x)=c2f0′′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\frac{\partial^2}{\partial t^2} f(t, x) = c^2 f''_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) where f0′′f''_0 denotes the second derivative of the profile function f0f_0 and ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard inner product on Rd\mathbb{R}^d.

theorem

Spatial Derivative of a Plane Wave: ∂f∂xi=sif0′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\frac{\partial f}{\partial x_i} = s_i f'_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct)

Let dd be the dimension of the space. Given a differentiable profile function f0:R→Rdf_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, a propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and a direction vector ss with associated unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, let the plane wave be defined as f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct). For any coordinate index i∈{0,…,d−1}i \in \{0, \dots, d-1\}, the partial derivative of the plane wave with respect to the ii-th spatial coordinate xix_i is given by: ∂∂xif(t,x)=sif0′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} f(t, x) = s_i f'_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) where si=⟨s^,ei⟩s_i = \langle \mathbf{\hat{s}}, e_i \rangle is the ii-th component of the unit direction vector, and f0′f'_0 denotes the derivative of the profile function f0f_0.

theorem

Spatial Derivative of a Plane Wave Component: ∂fj∂xi=si(f0′)j\frac{\partial f_j}{\partial x_i} = s_i (f'_0)_j

Let dd be the dimension of the space. Given a differentiable profile function f0:R→Rdf_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, a propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and a direction ss with associated unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, let the plane wave be defined as f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct). For any fixed time tt and coordinate indices i,j∈{0,…,d−1}i, j \in \{0, \dots, d-1\}, the partial derivative of the jj-th component of the plane wave with respect to the ii-th spatial coordinate xix_i is given by: ∂∂xifj(t,x)=si(f0′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct))j\frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} f_j(t, x) = s_i (f'_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct))_j where si=⟨s^,ei⟩s_i = \langle \mathbf{\hat{s}}, e_i \rangle is the ii-th component of the unit direction vector, and f0′f'_0 denotes the derivative of the profile function f0f_0.

theorem

Second Spatial Derivative of a Plane Wave: ∂2f∂xi2=si2f0′′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial x_i^2} = s_i^2 f''_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct)

Let dd be the dimension of the space. Given a twice continuously differentiable profile function f0:R→Rdf_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, a propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and a direction vector ss with associated unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, let the plane wave be defined as f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct). For any coordinate index i∈{0,…,d−1}i \in \{0, \dots, d-1\}, the second partial derivative of the plane wave with respect to the ii-th spatial coordinate xix_i is given by: ∂2∂xi2f(t,x)=si2f0′′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\frac{\partial^2}{\partial x_i^2} f(t, x) = s_i^2 f''_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) where sis_i is the ii-th component of the unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, and f0′′f''_0 denotes the second derivative of the profile function f0f_0.

theorem

Second Spatial Derivative of a Plane Wave Component: ∂2fj∂xi2=si2(f0′′)j\frac{\partial^2 f_j}{\partial x_i^2} = s_i^2 (f''_0)_j

Let dd be the dimension of the space. Given a twice continuously differentiable profile function f0:R→Rdf_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, a propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and a direction ss with associated unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, let the plane wave be defined as f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct). For any fixed time tt and coordinate indices i,j∈{0,…,d−1}i, j \in \{0, \dots, d-1\}, the second partial derivative of the jj-th component of the plane wave with respect to the ii-th spatial coordinate xix_i is given by: ∂2∂xi2fj(t,x)=si2(f0′′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct))j\frac{\partial^2}{\partial x_i^2} f_j(t, x) = s_i^2 (f''_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct))_j where si=⟨s^,ei⟩s_i = \langle \mathbf{\hat{s}}, e_i \rangle is the ii-th component of the unit direction vector, and f0′′f''_0 denotes the second derivative of the profile function f0f_0.

theorem

Laplacian of a Plane Wave: Δf(t,x)=f0′′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\Delta f(t, x) = f''_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct)

Let dd be the dimension of the space. Given a twice continuously differentiable profile function f0:R→Rdf_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d, a propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}, and a direction ss with associated unit vector s^\mathbf{\hat{s}}, let the plane wave be defined as f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct). For any fixed time tt and position x∈Rdx \in \mathbb{R}^d, the vector Laplacian Δ\Delta of the plane wave with respect to the spatial coordinates xx is given by: Δf(t,x)=f0′′(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\Delta f(t, x) = f''_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) where f0′′f''_0 denotes the second derivative of the profile function f0f_0.

theorem

Plane waves satisfy the wave equation c2Δf−∂2f∂t2=0c^2 \Delta \mathbf{f} - \frac{\partial^2 \mathbf{f}}{\partial t^2} = 0

Let dd be the dimension of the space. Let f0:R→Rdf_0 : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d be a twice continuously differentiable (C2C^2) profile function, c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R} be the propagation speed, and s^\mathbf{\hat{s}} be a unit direction vector. The plane wave defined by f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)\mathbf{f}(t, \mathbf{x}) = \mathbf{f}_0(\langle \mathbf{x}, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) satisfies the wave equation: c2Δf(t,x)−∂2f∂t2(t,x)=0 c^2 \Delta \mathbf{f}(t, \mathbf{x}) - \frac{\partial^2 \mathbf{f}}{\partial t^2}(t, \mathbf{x}) = 0 for all times tt and positions x∈Rd\mathbf{x} \in \mathbb{R}^d, where Δ\Delta is the vector Laplacian with respect to the spatial coordinates and ∂2∂t2\frac{\partial^2}{\partial t^2} is the second-order partial derivative with respect to time.

theorem

The function x↦⟨x,s⟩−ctx \mapsto \langle x, s \rangle - ct is differentiable

For any dimension dd, let ss be a direction with unit vector s∈Rd\mathbf{s} \in \mathbb{R}^d, cc be the propagation speed, and tt be a time. The function that maps a position vector x∈Rd\mathbf{x} \in \mathbb{R}^d to the scalar value ⟨x,s⟩−ct\langle \mathbf{x}, \mathbf{s} \rangle - ct is differentiable at x\mathbf{x}, where ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard inner product on Euclidean space.

theorem

∂∂xu(suf0′(ϕ))v=su2(f0′′(ϕ))v\frac{\partial}{\partial x_u} (s_u \mathbf{f}_0'(\phi))_v = s_u^2 (\mathbf{f}_0''(\phi))_v for Plane Waves

In dd-dimensional Euclidean space, let s∈Rd\mathbf{s} \in \mathbb{R}^d be a unit direction vector, c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R} be the propagation speed, and t∈Rt \in \mathbb{R} be time. Let f0:R→Rd\mathbf{f}_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d be a profile function with first derivative f0′\mathbf{f}_0' and second derivative f0′′\mathbf{f}_0''. For any indices u,v∈{0,…,d−1}u, v \in \{0, \dots, d-1\}, the partial derivative with respect to xux_u of the vv-th component of the vector suf0′(⟨x,s⟩−ct)s_u \mathbf{f}_0'(\langle \mathbf{x}, \mathbf{s} \rangle - ct) is given by: ∂∂xu⟨suf0′(⟨x,s⟩−ct),ev⟩=su2⟨f0′′(⟨x,s⟩−ct),ev⟩\frac{\partial}{\partial x_u} \langle s_u \mathbf{f}_0'(\langle \mathbf{x}, \mathbf{s} \rangle - ct), \mathbf{e}_v \rangle = s_u^2 \langle \mathbf{f}_0''(\langle \mathbf{x}, \mathbf{s} \rangle - ct), \mathbf{e}_v \rangle where sus_u is the uu-th component of s\mathbf{s}, ev\mathbf{e}_v is the vv-th standard basis vector, and ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard Euclidean inner product.

theorem

Relation between Spatial and Temporal Derivatives of Plane Waves: c∂fv∂xu=−su∂fv∂tc \frac{\partial f_v}{\partial x_u} = -s_u \frac{\partial f_v}{\partial t}

In dd-dimensional Euclidean space, let s^∈Rd\mathbf{\hat{s}} \in \mathbb{R}^d be a unit direction vector, c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R} be the propagation speed, and f0:R→Rdf_0 : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d be a differentiable profile function. Define the plane wave as f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct). For any fixed time tt, position xx, and coordinate indices u,v∈{0,…,d−1}u, v \in \{0, \dots, d-1\}, the partial derivative of the vv-th component of the wave with respect to the uu-th spatial coordinate is related to the time derivative by the equation: c∂fv∂xu(t,x)=−su∂fv∂t(t,x)c \frac{\partial f_v}{\partial x_u}(t, x) = -s_u \frac{\partial f_v}{\partial t}(t, x) where su=⟨s^,eu⟩s_u = \langle \mathbf{\hat{s}}, \mathbf{e}_u \rangle is the uu-th component of the unit direction vector and ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes the standard Euclidean inner product.

theorem

Time Differentiability of Plane Waves

In dd-dimensional Euclidean space, let s\mathbf{s} be a direction vector, c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R} be the propagation speed, and f0:R→Rdf_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d be a differentiable profile function. If f(t,x)f(t, x) is a plane wave defined by f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{s} \rangle - ct), then for any fixed position x∈Rdx \in \mathbb{R}^d, the function t↦f(t,x)t \mapsto f(t, x) is differentiable with respect to time tt.

theorem

Time Differentiability of s^×f(t,x)\mathbf{\hat{s}} \times f(t, x) for Plane Waves

Let ss be a direction vector with unit vector s^∈R3\mathbf{\hat{s}} \in \mathbb{R}^3 and f0:R→R3f_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^3 be a differentiable function. Let f(t,x)=f0(⟨x,s^⟩−ct)f(t, x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{\hat{s}} \rangle - ct) be a plane wave with propagation speed c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}. For any fixed position xx, the function t↦s^×f(t,x)t \mapsto \mathbf{\hat{s}} \times f(t, x) is differentiable at tt, where ×\times denotes the vector cross product in R3\mathbb{R}^3.

theorem

Differentiability of s×f0(u)s \times f_0(u) with respect to uu

Let ss be a direction vector in R3\mathbb{R}^3 and f0:R→R3f_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^3 be a differentiable function. Then for any u∈Ru \in \mathbb{R}, the function u↦s×f0(u)u \mapsto s \times f_0(u) is differentiable at uu, where ×\times denotes the standard cross product in Euclidean 3-space.

theorem

si(Df(x)y)i=⟨y,s⟩Dfi(x)eis_i (Df(x)y)_i = \langle y, \mathbf{s} \rangle Df_i(x)\mathbf{e}_i for plane waves ff

Let dd be a natural number and f0:R→Rdf_0: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^d be a differentiable function. Let s\mathbf{s} be a unit vector in the dd-dimensional Euclidean space Space d\text{Space } d, and let cc and tt be real constants representing propagation speed and time. Define the plane wave function f(x)=f0(⟨x,s⟩−ct)f(x) = f_0(\langle x, \mathbf{s} \rangle - ct). For any points x,y∈Space dx, y \in \text{Space } d and any index i∈{0,…,d−1}i \in \{0, \dots, d-1\}, the following equality holds: si⋅(Df(x)⋅y)i=⟨y,s⟩⋅(Dfi(x)⋅ei)s_i \cdot \left( Df(x) \cdot y \right)_i = \langle y, \mathbf{s} \rangle \cdot \left( Df_i(x) \cdot \mathbf{e}_i \right) where sis_i is the ii-th component of the direction vector s\mathbf{s}, Df(x)Df(x) is the Fréchet derivative of ff at xx, (⋅)i(\cdot)_i denotes the ii-th component of a vector, and ei\mathbf{e}_i is the ii-th standard orthonormal basis vector.