Past exam of the collisionless plasma physics course of the University of Oxford 2025 2 e Solution 2026-10-25
The real Airy function asymptotics used for the Airy turning-point connection formula are, for ,These real-axis asymptotics fix both normalization and phase.[ref]
Airy function asymptotics in the Digital Library of Mathematical Functions. Equations 9.7.5, 9.7.7, 9.7.9 and 9.7.11; leading terms for positive real argument
Near , , , and . Matching to the constants of c gives and . ThereforeIn particular, the decaying component matches the cosine with the requested shift, with a factor two in its oscillatory coefficient. The growing component matches a sine with the indicated minus sign. Expanding into travelling waves givesThe factor two is essential when converting the real oscillatory components to incident and reflected travelling waves.