Theory of attenuation and finite propagation speed in viscoelastic media

Abstract: It is shown that the dispersion and attenuation functions in a linear viscoelastic medium with a positive relaxation spectrum can be expressed in terms of a positive measure. Both functions have a sublinear growth rate at very high frequencies. In the case of power law attenuation positive relaxation spectrum ensures finite propagation speed. For more general attenuation functions the requirement of finite propagation speed imposes a more stringent condition on the high-frequency behavior of attenuation. It is demonstrated that superlinear power law frequency dependence of attenuation is incompatible with finite speed of propagation and with the assumption of positive relaxation spectrum.