Group velocity in general waveforms (Q1067825): Difference between revisions

The author contends that the concept of group velocity introduced in classical physics and engineering refer to rather special waveforms such as wave packets for which the theory applies in an asymptotic sense only. Consequently, he proceeds to introduce under the more general setting of a Hilbert space the group velocity for a general waveform, expressed in Fourier space, as the velocity at which each spectral component of the energy is propagated.