Informação, velocidade da luz e pontos não analíticos

Abstract

The work begins with a review on the concept of group and phase velocity, and a discussion about pulses propagation in dispersive media. After that, we are going to study the Helmholtz equation, followed by Drude-Lorentz s model description of electric susceptibility. In this study we have analyzed the relations between the real and imaginary part of the dielectric constant, using Kramers-Kronig relations. Moreover, we have analyzed the necessary conditions to obtain these relations, and the causality principle. We have shown physical systems in which is possible to obtain anomalous dispersion. The systems are population inversion, system with gain-assisted and photonic crystal. To understand better about some mathematical methods used to study the propagation of pulses, we have reviewed Fourier, Laplace and Green s methods. We used the wave equation to show how the methods mentioned above became a problem simpler to be solved. Finally, we have studied Cauchy-Riemann s conditions and the analyticity of real and imaginary functions. We have studied the propagation of Gaussian pulse and a compact support pulse, in the anomalous dispersion region. We have shown that the Gaussian pulse can propagate with a bigger group velocity than the speed of light in the vacuum, and these results are the same when we use the whole expression for the refractive index or not. However, in the case of the compact support pulse we have seen that is not true. On the other hand, in the study of the compact support pulse propagation, it was observed that the non-analytical points never exceed the speed of light in the vacuum. Associating the information to the non-analytical points we have observed the impossibility to send information faster than light in the vacuum.