Higher Order Modulation Equations for a Boussinesq Equation

In order to investigate corrections to the common KdV approximation to long waves, we derive modulation equations for the evolution of long wavelength initial data for a Boussinesq equation. The equations governing the corrections to the KdV approximation are explicitly solvable and we prove estimates showing that they do indeed give a significantly better approximation than the KdV equation alone. We also present the results of numerical experiments which show that the error estimates we derive are essentially optimal

KP solitons and Mach reflection in shallow water

This gives a survey of our recent studies on soliton solutions of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation with an emphasis on the Mach reflection problem in shallow water.Comment: Presented at the Autumn Conference of Mathematical Society of Japan, September 20, 2012; 14 pages, 6 figure

Higher order terms in multiscale expansions: a linearized KdV hierarchy

We consider a wide class of model equations, able to describe wave propagation in dispersive nonlinear media. The Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation is derived in this general frame under some conditions, the physical meanings of which are clarified. It is obtained as usual at leading order in some multiscale expansion. The higher order terms in this expansion are studied making use of a multi-time formalism and imposing the condition that the main term satisfies the whole KdV hierarchy. The evolution of the higher order terms with respect to the higher order time variables can be described through the introduction of a linearized KdV hierarchy. This allows one to give an expression of the higher order time derivatives that appear in the right hand member of the perturbative expansion equations, to show that overall the higher order terms do not produce any secularity and to prove that the formal expansion contains only bounded terms.Comment: arxiv version is already officia