Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/ii/paper-4/38a/b/solution

In a homogeneous, time-independent medium, and . Therefore and are constant along each ray. The group velocity is consequently constant, and
so every ray is a straight line.
For , let denote distance along a ray from the origin and let
The phase equation gives
Both vectors on the right are constant along the ray, so
The final formula in the question denotes the physical phase simply by , giving its stated expression.

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