Waves

Waves are everywhere in our daily life. We all experience sound and light with our ears and eyes: we use microwaves to cook, and radio waves are transmitted from, and are received by, our cell phones. These are just some examples of waves that carry energy from point A to B. However, we may not know details of the physics underlying all these waves. It is important to understand the mechanisms that generate wave dynamics for a given system. It is not straightforward to explain how an electromagnetic field becomes oscillatory and propagates as a wave. Waves sometimes represent the underlying dynamics of observed phenomena at a fundamental level of physics.

This book is designed to explore these mechanisms by discussing various aspects of wave dynamics from as many perspectives as possible. The target audiences are undergraduate students majoring in engineering science and graduate students majoring in general engineering. Going beyond the typical approach to learning science, this book discusses wave dynamics and related concepts at various levels of mathematics and physics, sometimes touching on profound physics behind them. This book was written to help readers learn wave dynamics on a deep physical level, and develop innovative ideas in their own fields.