Contact Info
Department of Applied Mathematics
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 32700
Fax: 519-746-4319
PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader
MC 5158
Ray McLenaghan | Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo
Huygens' principle and Hadamard's problem of diffusion of waves
A wave phenomenon governed by solutions of a second order linear hyperbolic partial differential equation of normal hyperbolic type is said to satisfy Huygens' principle in the strict sense if the waves propagate sharply without a tail. Waves governed by the ordinary wave equation in three space dimensions have this property while the those in two dimensions do not. In 1923 Hadamard posed the problem, still unsolved, of determining all (generalized) wave equations with the Huygens' property. In this talk the current status of the problem in four independent variables will be reviewed and a new family of essentially non-self-adjoint Huygens' equations described.
Contact Info
Department of Applied Mathematics
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 32700
Fax: 519-746-4319
PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is co-ordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.