An instability criterion for nonlinear standing waves on nonzero backgrounds

A nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with repulsive (defocusing) nonlinearity is considered. As an example, a system with a spatially varying coefficient of the nonlinear term is studied. The nonlinearity is chosen to be repelling except on a finite interval. Localized standing wave solutions on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2013-11
Main Authors: Jackson, R K, Marangell, R, Susanto, H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Defocusing
Inhomogeneity
Nonlinearity
Solitary waves
Stability
Stability criteria
Standing waves
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:A nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with repulsive (defocusing) nonlinearity is considered. As an example, a system with a spatially varying coefficient of the nonlinear term is studied. The nonlinearity is chosen to be repelling except on a finite interval. Localized standing wave solutions on a non-zero background, e.g., dark solitons trapped by the inhomogeneity, are identified and studied. A novel instability criterion for such states is established through a topological argument. This allows instability to be determined quickly in many cases by considering simple geometric properties of the standing waves as viewed in the composite phase plane. Numerical calculations accompany the analytical results.
ISSN:2331-8422