440 Chapter 7
type, and, from Section 2.6, the weight function is w(r) = r. The indexed eigenvalues and
corresponding eigenfunctions are given, respectively, as
λ
m, n
,R
m, n
(r)
for m = 0, 1, 2, 3,..., and n = 0, 1, 2, 3,....
Again, these eigenfunctions can be normalized and the corresponding statement of
orthonormality with respect to the weight function w(r) = r reads
a
0
R
m, n
(r)R
m, p
(r)r dr =δ(n, p)
What was stated in Section 2.2 about regular Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problems in one
dimension can be extended to two dimensions here; that is, the product of the above
eigenfunctions in r and θ form a “complete” set with respect to any piecewise smooth function
f(r, θ) over the finite two-dimensional domain D ={(r, θ) |0 <r<a,0 <θ<b}.
Finally, we focus on the time-dependent equation, which reads
d
2
dt
2
T(t) +γ
d
dt
T(t)
+c
2
λ
2
T(t) = 0
For the indexed values of λ
m, n
given, the solution to this second-order differential equation
from Section 1.4 is
T
m, n
(t) = e
−
γt
2
⎛
⎜
⎝
A(m, n) cos
⎛
⎜
⎝
4λ
2
m, n
c
2
−γ
2
t
2
⎞
⎟
⎠
+B(m, n) sin
⎛
⎜
⎝
4λ
2
m, n
c
2
−γ
2
t
2
⎞
⎟
⎠
⎞
⎟
⎠
where the coefficients A(m, n) and B(m, n) are unknown arbitrary constants.
Throughout most of our example problems, we make the assumption of small damping in the
system—that is,
γ
2
< 4 λ
2
m, n
c
2
This assumption yields time-dependent solutions that are oscillatory. The argument of the sine
and cosine expressions denotes the angular frequency of the (m, n) term in the system. The
damped angular frequency of oscillation of the (m, n)th term or mode is given formally as
ω
m, n
=
4λ
2
m, n
c
2
−γ
2
2
Thus, by the method of separation of variables, we arrive at an infinite number of indexed
solutions for the homogeneous wave partial differential equation, over a finite domain. These
solutions are
u
m, n
(r,θ,t)= R
m, n
(r)
m
(θ)e
−
γt
2
A(m, n) cos
ω
m, n
t
+B(m, n) sin
ω
m, n
t
for m = 0, 1, 2, 3,..., and n = 0, 1, 2, 3,....