The subject of wave phenomena is well-known for its inter-disciplinary nature. Progress in this field has been made both through the desire to solve very practical problems, arising in acoustics, optics, radiophysics, electronics, oceanography, me teorology and so on, and through the development of mathematical physics which emphasized that completely different physical phenomena are governed by the same (or similar) equations. In the immense literature on physics of waves there is no lack of good presentations of particular branches or general textbooks on mathematical physics. But if one restricts the attention to pulse propagation phenomena, one no tices that many useful facts are scattered among the various books and journals, and their connections are not immediately apparent. For example, the problems involv ing acoustic pulse propagation in bubbly liquids and those related to electromagnetic pulses in resonant media are usually treated without much cross reference in spite of their obvious connections. The authors of this book have attempted to write a coherent account of a few pulse propagation problems selected from different branches of applied physics. Although the basic material on linear pulse propagation is included, some topics have their own unique twists, and a comprehensive treatment of this body of material can hardly be found in other sources. First of all, the problem of pulse propagation in non equilibrium media (unstable or admitting attenuation) is far more delicate than it is apparent at a first glance.
