Study of fully developed wind wave spectrum by application of quantum statistics

The spectrum of fully developed wind waves is studied by application of the method of quantum statistics. A particle picture of water waves is introduced as an analogy of wave–particle duality. “Water wave particles” are conceived which are similar to phonons for elastic waves in solids. However, due to the property of wave breaking, the number of “water wave particles” in a quantum state is restricted. The spectrum of fully developed wind waves is studied on the basis of the maximum entropy principle. The similarity law of fully developed wind wave spectrum is proved. In the high frequency range, the spectral form is in agreement with the result of observations. In the particle picture, a saturated spectrum is introduced which is in conceptual consistency with the saturated spectrum introduced by Phillips in the wave picture, and the form of which is the same as Phillips’. It is further shown that in the high frequency range the spectrum is only half saturated for fully developed wind waves. The frequency downshifting phenomenon which cannot be explained by wave theory is explained in the particle picture.