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Eliciting harmonics on strings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 January 2008
Abstract
One may produce the qth harmonic of a string of length π by applying the 'correct touch' at the node $\pi/q$ during a simultaneous pluck or bow. This notion wasmade precise by a model of Bamberger, Rauch and Taylor. Their 'touch' isa damper of magnitude b concentrated at $\pi/q$ . The 'correct touch' is that b for which the modes, that do not vanishat $\pi/q$ , are maximally damped. We here examine the associated spectralproblem. We find the spectrum to be periodic and determined by a polynomialof degree $q-1$ . We establish lower and upper bounds on the spectral abscissaand show that the set of associated root vectors constitutes a Riesz basisand so identify 'correct touch' with the b that minimizes the spectral abscissa.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 657 - 677
- Copyright
- © EDP Sciences, SMAI, 2008
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