Question 9:

Consider the telegraphers equation:


2
utt − uxx + ut + m u = 0

u(x, 0) = g(x)

ut (x, 0) = 0


where g ∈ C 2

Solution:
We solve the telegraphers equation with Fourier Transform, by multiplying the whole equati-
on with e−iξt , integrating w.r.t x. Additionally we denote the Fourier transform w.r.t. x, for
a fixed t, of u(x, t) by:
Z ∞
û(ξ, t) = u(x, t)e−iξx dx
−∞

To get a solution we assume that u(x, t) → 0 as x → ±∞.

Now by integration by parts we get:
Z ∞
u
cx (ξ, t) = ux (x, t)e−iξx dx
−∞
∞ Z ∞
−iξt
=e u(x, t) +iξ u(x, t)e−iξx dx

−∞ −∞
| {z }
−→0
= iξ û(ξ, t)
By repeating that we get for
2
u
dxx (ξ, t) = −ξ û(ξ, t) (1)
For ut we calculate:
Z ∞
ubt (ξ, t) = ut (x, t)e−iξx dx
Z−∞
∞
= ut (x, t)e−iξx dx
−∞
Z ∞
u(x, t + h) − u(x, t) −iξx
= lim e dx
−∞ h→0 h (2)
1 ∞
Z Z ∞ 
−iξx
= lim u(x, t + h)e dx − u(x, t)e−iξx dx
h→0 h −∞ −∞
1 
= lim û(ξ, t + h) − û(ξ, t)
h→0 h
∂
= û(ξ, t) = ût (ξ, t)
∂t
We can repeat this to get uc
tt :
uc
tt (ξ, t) = ûtt (ξ, t) (3)
Finally we can consider the Fourier transform, and by(1),(2) and (3):
Z ∞ 
0= utt − uxx + ut + m2 u e−iξx dx
−∞

tt (ξ, t) − u
= uc bt (ξ, t) + m2 û(ξ, t)
xx (ξ, t) + u
(4)
d
= ûtt (ξ, t) + ξ 2 û(ξ, t) + ût (ξ, t) + m2 û(ξ, t)
 
= ûtt (ξ, t) + ût (ξ, t) + m2 + ξ 2 û(ξ, t)

which is a second order ODE for a fixed ξ.

Solve this with
√ the characteristic polynomial
√ r2 + r + (m2 + ξ 2 ) = 0 and let
−1+ 1−4(m2 +ξ 2 ) −1− 1−4(m2 +ξ 2 )
w+ (ξ) = 2 , w− (ξ) = 2 its solutions. The general solution is:

+ (ξ)t − (ξ)t
û(ξ, t) = F̂ (ξ)ew + Ĥ(ξ)ew (5)
+ w+ (ξ)t − w− (ξ)t
with ût (ξ, t) = w (ξ)F̂ (ξ)e + w (ξ)Ĥ(ξ)e (6)

where F̂ (ξ) & Ĥ(ξ) are constants, since we said ξ is fixed.

We get 2 cases:
1.case:
Solution is real: 1 − 4(m2 + ξ 2 ) ≥ 0

Time to consider the initial conditions:

u(x, 0) = g(x) ⇒ û(ξ, 0) = ĝ(ξ)

ut (x, 0) = 0 ⇒ ût (ξ, 0) = 0

If we plug t=0 in (5) and (6) and compare with the initial conditions, we get:

F̂ (ξ) + Ĥ(ξ) = ĝ(ξ) (7)

F̂ (ξ)w+ (ξ) + Ĥ(ξ)w− (ξ) = 0 (8)

Solving (7) , (8) we get

w− (ξ) w+ (ξ)
F̂ (ξ) = − ĝ(ξ) Ĥ(ξ) = ĝ(ξ)
w+ (ξ) − w− (ξ) w+ (ξ) − w− (ξ)

So if we transform û(ξ, t) back to u, we get:

Z +∞
1
u(x, t) = û(ξ, t)eiξx dξ
2π −∞

2.case:
Solution is imaginary: 1 − 4(m2 + pξ2) < 0
± 1 i
Again we define w (ξ) = − 2 ± 2 (m2 + ξ 2 ) − 1), and we see, that the general solution is
the same with a different w± .