物理学中的波概念

The concept of wave revisited

本文针对自经典力学的机械波到广义相对论的引力波等诸多波概念,其关切的物理量所涉及的物理现实与数学结构,后者包括具体方程的形式和波的函数表达,作一个简单的梳理。波既被当作运动的形式,也被当作存在自身的形式,本质上也许不过是一个在我们有限的数学知识内容易掌握的工具形式。

The concept of wave in the various fields of physics ranging fi＇om classical me- chanics to general relativity, together with the physical reality and the mathematical structure for the physical quantity of concern in given context, the latter including both the governing equation and the function for the description of wave, are revisited. Wave has been taken both as the form of motion and as the form of being itself, yet it may be essentially just the form of a suitable mathe- matical tool that we can offer.