Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ii/paper-4/38b/solution

Substitution of gives
The phase velocity is negative for all nonzero wavenumbers, so crests travel left. The group velocity is negative for , zero at , and positive for . Its minimum is at zero and maximum at ; it tends to zero from above at infinity. The odd dispersion relation has extrema at , with .
The Fourier solution is . The stationary-phase statements require enough amplitude regularity and decay, for example smooth and rapidly decreasing; realness and evenness alone do not guarantee a convergent integral or a stationary-phase expansion. For , set and solve implicitly.

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