Cargo Cult Science – Electromagnetic Harmonics and Heterodynes

The process that produces electromagnetic wave harmonics and heterodynes are assumed to be well understood. The textbook definitions of these terms are being tagged herein as cargo cult science because they are incomplete. The effects these term describe occur when electromagnetic waves, singularly or in combination, interact within a non-linear medium. The textbook descriptions of these terms are based upon fundamental electromagnetic waves, sine waves that represent a single frequency, interactions that occur within electronic devices and interactions that are collinear. Each of these interactions are a special case. Radio astronomers are detecting signals coming from space that have spectral characteristics unlike anything taught in the textbooks. The manner in which textbooks describe EM wave interactions in nonlinear mediums can result in incorrect interpretation of spectral signatures. Radio astronomers need to be aware that artificial modification of the Earth's ionosphere can modify the signals they are detecting coming from celestial sources.