Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-waves-and-compressible-flow-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/2/c/ii/solution

Write the cosine in i as two complex exponentials. On a ray , the oscillatory phases are . The stationary phase method requires . By ii, the largest absolute horizontal group velocity for the occupied mode is
Inside this region there are stationary wavenumbers supporting appreciable wave packet contributions. Outside it no stationary wavenumber exists; oscillatory cancellation suppresses the large-time response. This explains "mainly confined": the initial Lorentzian profile already has nonzero algebraic tails, so the displayed region is not the exact support of the solution. Near its boundary the stationary points meet and the usual nondegenerate stationary-phase formula needs a transition approximation.

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