Chapter II
Absorbed Energy

148. Let us consider an oscillator which has just completed an emission and which has, accordingly, lost all its energy of vibration. If we reckon the time t from this instant then for t = 0 we have f = 0 and df dt = 0, and the vibration takes place according to equation (233). Let us write Ez as in (149) in the form of a Fourier’s series:

Ez = n=1n=A n cos 2πnt T + Bn sin 2πnt T , (235)

where T may be chosen very large, so that for all times t considered t < T. Since we assume the radiation to be stationary, the constant coefficients An and Bn depend on the ordinal numbers n in a wholly irregular way, according to the hypothesis of natural radiation (Sec. 117). The partial vibration with the ordinal number n has the frequency ν, where

ω = 2πν = 2πn T , (236)

while for the frequency ν0 of the natural period of the oscillator

ω0 = 2πν0 = K L .

Taking the initial condition into account, we now obtain as the solution of the differential equation (233) the expression

f = 1[a n(cos ωt cos ω0t) + bn(sin ωt ω ω0 sin ω0t)], (237)

where

an = An L(ω02 ω2),bn = Bn L(ω02 ω2). (238)

This represents the vibration of the oscillator up to the instant when the next emission occurs.

The coefficients an and bn attain their largest values when ω is nearly equal to ω0. (The case ω = ω0 may be excluded by assuming at the outset that ν0T is not an integer.)

149. Let us now calculate the total energy which is absorbed by the oscillator in the time from t = 0 to t = τ, where

ω0τ  is large. (239)

According to equation (234), it is given by the integral

0τE zdf dtdt, (240)

the value of which may be obtained from the known expression for Ez (235) and from

df dt = 1[a n(ω sin ωt + ω0 sin ω0t) + bn(ω cos ωt ω cos ω0t)]. (241)

By multiplying out, substituting for an and bn their values from (238), and leaving off all terms resulting from the multiplication of two constants An and Bn, this gives for the absorbed energy the following value:

1 L0τdt 1[ An2 ω02 ω2 cos ωt(ω sin ωt + ω0 sin ω0t) + Bn2 ω02 ω2 sin ωt(ω cos ωt ω cos ω0t)].

In this expression the integration with respect to t may be performed term by term. Substituting the limits τ and 0 it gives

1 L 1 An2 ω02 ω2 sin 2ωτ 2 + ω0 sin 2ω0 + ω 2 τ ω0 + ω + sin 2ω0 ω 2 τ ω0 ω + 1 L 1 Bn2 ω02 ω2 sin 2ωτ 2 ω sin 2ω0 + ω 2 τ ω0 + ω sin 2ω0 ω 2 τ ω0 ω .

In order to separate the terms of different order of magnitude, this expression is to be transformed in such a way that the difference ω0 ω will appear in all terms of the sum. This gives

1 L 1 An2 ω02 ω2[ ω0 ω 2(ω0 + ω) sin 2ωτ + ω0 ω0 + ω sin ω0 ω 2 τ sin ω0 + 3ω 2 τ + ω0 ω0 ω sin 2ω0 ω 2 τ] + 1 L 1 Bn2 ω02 ω2[ ω0 ω 2(ω0 + ω) sin 2ωτ ω ω0 + ω sin ω0 ω 2 τ sin ω0 + 3ω 2 τ + ω ω0 ω sin 2ω0 ω 2 τ].

The summation with respect to the ordinal numbers n of the Fourier’s series may now be performed. Since the fundamental period T of the series is extremely large, there corresponds to the difference of two consecutive ordinal numbers, Δn = 1 only a very small difference of the corresponding values of ωdω, namely, according to (236),

Δn = 1 = Tdν = Tdω 2π , (242)

and the summation with respect to n becomes an integration with respect to ω.

The last summation with respect to An may be rearranged as the sum of three series, whose orders of magnitude we shall first compare. So long as only the order is under discussion we may disregard the variability of the An2 and need only compare the three integrals

0dω sin 2ωτ 2(ω0 + ω)2 = J1, 0dω ω0 (ω0 + ω)2(ω0 ω) sin ω0 ω 2 τ sin ω0 + 3ω 2 τ = J2,  and 0dω ω0 (ω0 + ω)(ω0 ω)2 sin 2ω0 ω 2 τ = J3.

The evaluation of these integrals is greatly simplified by the fact that, according to (239), ω0τ and therefore also ωτ are large numbers, at least for all values of ω which have to be considered. Hence it is possible to replace the expression sin 2ωτ in the integral J1 by its mean value 1 2 and thus we obtain:

J1 = 1 4ω0.
It is readily seen that, on account of the last factor, we obtain
J2 = 0
for the second integral.

In order finally to calculate the third integral J3 we shall lay off in the series of values of ω on both sides of ω0 an interval extending from ω1 ( < ω0) to ω2 ( > ω0) such that

ω0 ω1 ω0  andω2 ω0 ω0  are small, (243)

and simultaneously

(ω0 ω1)τ and(ω2 ω0)τ are large. (244)

This can always be done, since ω0τ is large. If we now break up the integral J3 into three parts, as follows:

J3 =0 =0ω1 +ω1ω2 +ω2,
it is seen that in the first and third partial integral the expression sin 2ω0 ω 2 τ may, because of the condition (244), be replaced by its mean value 1 2. Then the two partial integrals become:

0ω1 ω0dω 2(ω0 + ω)(ω0 ω)2 andω2 ω0dω 2(ω0 + ω)(ω0 ω)2. (245)

These are certainly smaller than the integrals:

0ω1 dω 2(ω0 ω)2 andω2 dω 2(ω0 ω)2
which have the values

1 2 ω1 ω0(ω0 ω1) and 1 2(ω2 ω0) (246)

respectively. We must now consider the middle one of the three partial integrals:

ω1ω2 dω ω0 (ω0 + ω)(ω0 ω)2 sin 2ω0 ω 2 τ.
Because of condition (243) we may write instead of this:
ω1ω2 dω sin 2ω0 ω 2 τ 2(ω0 ω)2
and by introducing the variable of integration x, where
x = ω ω0 2 τ
and taking account of condition (244) for the limits of the integral, we get:
τ 4+ sin 2xdx x2 = τ 4π.
This expression is of a higher order of magnitude than the expressions (246) and hence of still higher order than the partial integrals (245) and the integrals J1 and J2 given above. Thus for our calculation only those values of ω will contribute an appreciable part which lie in the interval between ω1 and ω2, and hence we may, because of (243), replace the separate coefficients An2 and B n2 in the expression for the total absorbed energy by their mean values A02 and B 02 in the neighborhood of ω0 and thus, by taking account of (242), we shall finally obtain for the total value of the energy absorbed by the oscillator in the time τ:

1 Lτ 8(A02 + B 02)T. (247)

If we now, as in (158), define I, the “intensity of the vibration exciting the oscillator,” by spectral resolution of the mean value of the square of the exciting field-strength Ez:

Ez2 ̄ =0I νdν (248)

we obtain from (235) and (242):

Ez2 ̄ = 1 2 1(A n2 + B n2) = 1 20(A n2 + B n2)Tdν,
and by comparison with (248):
I = 1 2(A02 + B 02)T.
Accordingly from (247) the energy absorbed in the time τ becomes:
I 4Lτ,
that is, in the time between two successive emissions, the energy U of the oscillator increases uniformly with the time, according to the law

dU dt = I 4L = a. (249)

Hence the energy absorbed by all N oscillators in the time dt is:

NI 4Ldt = Nadt. (250)