The Physics of Waves

by Howard Georgi

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This text will provide you with the concepts and mathematical tools necessary to understand and explain a broad range of vibrations and waves. You will learn that waves come from many interconnected (coupled) objects when they are vibrating together. We will discuss many of these phenomena, along with related topics, including mechanical vibrations and waves, sound waves, electromagnetic waves, optics, and gravitational waves.

Description from LibreTexts.

Publisher
Harvard University
Subjects
Physics, Waves and Acoustics
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, as LibreTexts states it. Non-commercial use only.
Who can read
Tweens profiles and older, judged from its title and subjects

Contents

LibreTexts writes equations in TeX, and here they show as TeX; the PDF has them typeset.

  1. Front Matter
  2. TitlePage
  3. InfoPage
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Licensing
  6. Preface
  7. 1: Harmonic Oscillation
  8. 1.1: The Harmonic Oscillator
  9. 1.2: Small Oscillations and Linearity
  10. 1.3: Time Translation Invariance
  11. 1.4: Complex Numbers
  12. 1.5: Exponential Solutions
  13. 1.6: LC Circuits
  14. 1.7: Units - Displacement and energy
  15. 1.8: A Simple Nonlinear Oscillator
  16. 1.9: Chapter Checklist
  17. 1.10: Problem
  18. 1.11: Problems
  19. 2: Forced Oscillation and Resonance
  20. 2.1: Damped Oscillators
  21. 2.2: Forced Oscillations
  22. 2.3: Resonance
  23. 2.4: An Example
  24. 2.5: Chapter Checklist
  25. 3: Normal Modes
  26. 3.1: More than One Degree of Freedom
  27. 3.2: Matrices
  28. 3.3: Normal Modes
  29. 3.4: * Normal Coordinates and Initial Values
  30. 3.5: * Forced Oscillations and Resonance
  31. 3.6: Chapter Checklist
  32. 4: Symmetries
  33. 4.1: Symmetries
  34. 4.2: Chapter Checklist
  35. 5: Waves
  36. 5.1: Space Translation Invariance
  37. 5.2: k and Dispersion Relations
  38. 5.3: Waves
  39. 5.4: Free Ends
  40. 5.5: Forced Oscillations and Boundary Conditions
  41. 5.6: Coupled LC Circuits
  42. 5.7: Chapter Checklist
  43. 6: Continuum Limit and Fourier Series
  44. 6.1: The Continuum Limit
  45. 6.2: Fourier Series
  46. 6.3: Chapter Checklist
  47. 7: Longitudinal Oscillations and Sound
  48. 7.1: Longitudinal Modes in a Massive Spring
  49. 7.2: A Mass on a Light Spring
  50. 7.3: The Speed of Sound
  51. 7.4: Chapter Checklist
  52. 8: Traveling Waves
  53. 8.1: Standing and Traveling Waves
  54. 8.2: Force, Power and Impedance
  55. 8.3: Light
  56. 8.4: Transmission Lines
  57. 8.5: Damping
  58. 8.6: High and Low Frequency Cut-Offs
  59. 8.7: Chapter Checklist
  60. 9: The Boundary at Infinity
  61. 9.1: Reflection and Transmission
  62. 9.2: Index of Refraction
  63. 9.3: Transfer Matrices
  64. 9.4: Chapter Checklist
  65. 10: Signals and Fourier Analysis
  66. 10.1: Signals in Forced Oscillation
  67. 10.2: Dispersive Media and Group Velocity
  68. 10.3: Bandwidth, Fidelity, and Uncertainty
  69. 10.4: Scattering of Wave Packets
  70. 10.5: Is \(c\) the Speed of Light?
  71. 10.6: Chapter Checklist
  72. 11: Two and Three Dimensions
  73. 11.1: The k Vector
  74. 11.2: Plane Boundaries
  75. 11.3: Chladni Plates
  76. 11.4: Waveguides
  77. 11.5: Water
  78. 11.6: Lenses and Geometrical Optics
  79. 11.7: Rainbows
  80. 11.8: Spherical Waves
  81. 11.9: Chapter Checklist
  82. 12: Polarization
  83. 12.1: The String in Three Dimensions
  84. 12.2: Electromagnetic Waves
  85. 12.3: Wave Plates and Polarizers
  86. 12.4: Boundary between Dielectrics
  87. 12.5: Radiation
  88. 12.6: Chapter Checklist
  89. 13: Interference and Diffraction
  90. 13.1: Interference
  91. 13.2: Beams
  92. 13.3: Small and Large z
  93. 13.4: Examples
  94. 13.5: Convolution
  95. 13.6: Periodic f(x, y)
  96. 13.7: X-ray Diffraction
  97. 13.8: Chapter Checklist
  98. 13.9: Fringes and Zone Plates
  99. 13.10: 13-8- Holography
  100. 14: Shocks and Wakes
  101. 14.1: Boat Wakes
  102. 14.2: Chapter Checklist
  103. Back Matter
  104. Index
  105. Glossary
  106. Detailed Licensing