The modulated Fourier expansion for waves propagating through time-modulated media

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Nick, Jörg
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Nick, Jörg
author_facet Nick, Jörg
contents Controlling waves by actively changing the material parameters of a medium enables the development of new acoustic and electrical devices. Modulating the material breaks classical properties like reciprocity and the conservation of energy, which complicates the mathematical analysis. Without a limiting amplitude principle, time-harmonic formulations are generally inapplicable. The present manuscript develops an alternative tool for the time-modulated acoustic wave equation, that is based on a modulated Fourier expansion (MFE). The solution is characterized by multiple smoothly varying coefficient functions, which solve a coupled system of evolutionary partial differential equations with temporally constant coefficients. For small-amplitude fast-time modulations, this system of evolutionary partial differential equations is shown to possess a smoothly varying solution, which characterizes the exact solution up to a small defect. Discretization of the derived coupled system yields integrators that are stable and accurate when larger time steps are used, compared to those schemes that are applied to the time-modulated acoustic wave equation directly. Numerical experiments illustrate the theoretical results and the use of the approach.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_06152
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The modulated Fourier expansion for waves propagating through time-modulated media
Nick, Jörg
Numerical Analysis
Analysis of PDEs
35L52, 35B27, 65M12, 65M15
Controlling waves by actively changing the material parameters of a medium enables the development of new acoustic and electrical devices. Modulating the material breaks classical properties like reciprocity and the conservation of energy, which complicates the mathematical analysis. Without a limiting amplitude principle, time-harmonic formulations are generally inapplicable. The present manuscript develops an alternative tool for the time-modulated acoustic wave equation, that is based on a modulated Fourier expansion (MFE). The solution is characterized by multiple smoothly varying coefficient functions, which solve a coupled system of evolutionary partial differential equations with temporally constant coefficients. For small-amplitude fast-time modulations, this system of evolutionary partial differential equations is shown to possess a smoothly varying solution, which characterizes the exact solution up to a small defect. Discretization of the derived coupled system yields integrators that are stable and accurate when larger time steps are used, compared to those schemes that are applied to the time-modulated acoustic wave equation directly. Numerical experiments illustrate the theoretical results and the use of the approach.
title The modulated Fourier expansion for waves propagating through time-modulated media
topic Numerical Analysis
Analysis of PDEs
35L52, 35B27, 65M12, 65M15
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.06152