Paper detail

A Paradox of Whistling Atmospherics

Analyzing paradoxes is interesting and instructive. Sometimes the analysis leads to non-trivial results. This methodological note sets out a paradox arising in the theory of propagation of electromagnetic waves in moving plasmas. The paradox is interesting in itself, and, generally speaking, it should be taken into account when analyzing geoelectromagnetic waves. The paradox is as follows: contrary to expectations, the group velocity of the waves is the same in the comoving and laboratory frames of reference. The condition for the appearance of the paradox is the quadratic dependence of the frequency on the wave number. A paradoxical property manifests itself in the theory of the propagation of radio waves (in particular, whistling atmospherics), Langmuir waves and Alfvén waves. From a cognitive point of view, it is interesting that the paradox can be traced in relation to de Broglie waves. An explanation of the paradox is proposed. Keywords: group velocity, moving plasma, Doppler Effect, dispersion, longitudinal waves, transverse waves.