Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/ii/paper-2/40a/b/solution

Both sides of the dispersion relation are positive on an interval beginning at zero phase, so a zeroth branch exists for every . Higher branches first appear when , for which the right side vanishes and . Thus
and
The dispersion curve begins on the line at , bends below it, and approaches the layer shear-wave line from above as .

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