Diffusion Waves and their Uses

The concept of waves is an integral part of our scientific culture and has nourished physicists, pure and applied alike, for centuries. Many important discoveries in physics, including quantum mechanics, have involved wave phenomena. The wave concept owes some of its scientific success to its mathematical tractability. Linear wave equations—the sort that describe the transmission of sound and radio waves through air—contain a nonzero second‐order time derivative, which gives rise mathematically to the rich and familiar array of properties we associate with waves, such as wavefront propagation, reflection, and refraction.

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