Bohm trajectories for wave propagation

Abstract

We obtain the equations of motion for the density and phase of a propagating pulse in analogy to the Bohm formulation. We define the group velocity operator and show how it can be used to obtain the fluid-like velocity. We consider propagation with dispersion and attenuation.

Keywords:

• wave propagation
• Bohm trajectories
• Wigner distribution
• dispersion

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank one of the referees for the helpful suggestions made. This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N00014-09-1-0162).