Dispersion analysis for wave equations with fractional Laplacian loss operators

Abstract

Abstract Several wave equations for power-law attenuation have a spatial fractional derivative in the loss term. Both one-sided and two-sided spatial fractional derivatives can give causal solutions and a phase velocity dispersion which satisfies the Kramers–Kronig relation. The Chen–Holm and the Treeby–Cox equations both have the two-sided fractional Laplacian derivative, but only the latter satisfies this relation. There also exists several seemingly different expressions for the phase velocity for these equations and it is shown here that they are approximately equivalent. Causality of the Chen–Holm equation has also been a topic of some discussion and it is found that despite the lack of agreement with the Kramers–Kronig relation, it is still causal.