Initial-value problem for the 1-D wave equation in an inhomogeneous medium

A complete mathematical analysis of oscillations of an inhomogeneous medium described by a wave equation with a space-dependent coefficient is given. The initial-value problem is solved both by the Laplace transform and by normal-mode analysis and the equivalency of both approaches is demonstrated. The Green function of the problem is a double-valued function of the complex frequency, analytic in the upper and lower halves of the complex frequency plane (the ''physical'' sheet of its Riemann surface) with discontinuity on the whole real axis, corresponding to the continuous frequency spectrum of the physical system in question. The Green function has complex poles on analytic continuation onto the ''unphysical'' sheet of its Riemann surface. This makes it possible, by inverting the Laplace transform, to interpret the solution of the initial-value problem in terms of ''damped'' eigenmodes. The continuum eigenmodes can be constructed directly and are also recovered by integrating the Green function in the complex frequency plane along a closed contour enclosing the spectrum. Their orthogonality and completeness is proved. The solution of the initial-value problem synthesized from the continuum eigenmodes can be interpreted in terms of travelling disturbances scattered by inhomogeneity. (author)