158 research outputs found

    Numerical continuation for fractional PDEs: sharp teeth and bloated snakes

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    Partial differential equations (PDEs) involving fractional Laplace operators have been increasingly used to model non-local diffusion processes and are actively investigated using both analytical and numerical approaches. The purpose of this work is to study the effects of the spectral fractional Laplacian on the bifurcation structure of reaction-diffusion systems on bounded domains. In order to do this we use advanced numerical continuation techniques to compute the solution branches. Since current available continuation packages only support systems involving the standard Laplacian, we first extend the pde2path software to treat fractional PDEs. The new capabilities are then applied to the study of the Allen-Cahn equation, the Swift-Hohenberg equation and the Schnakenberg system (in which the standard Laplacian is each replaced by the spectral fractional Laplacian). Our study reveals some common effects, which contributes to a better understanding of fractional diffusion in generic reaction-diffusion systems. In particular, we investigate the changes in snaking bifurcation diagrams and also study the spatial structure of non-trivial steady states upon variation of the order of the fractional Laplacian. Our results show that the fractional order can induce very significant qualitative and quantitative changes in global bifurcation structures

    Onset of Patterns in an Ocillated Granular Layer: Continuum and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

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    We study the onset of patterns in vertically oscillated layers of frictionless dissipative particles. Using both numerical solutions of continuum equations to Navier-Stokes order and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we find that standing waves form stripe patterns above a critical acceleration of the cell. Changing the frequency of oscillation of the cell changes the wavelength of the resulting pattern; MD and continuum simulations both yield wavelengths in accord with previous experimental results. The value of the critical acceleration for ordered standing waves is approximately 10% higher in molecular dynamics simulations than in the continuum simulations, and the amplitude of the waves differs significantly between the models. The delay in the onset of order in molecular dynamics simulations and the amplitude of noise below this onset are consistent with the presence of fluctuations which are absent in the continuum theory. The strength of the noise obtained by fit to Swift-Hohenberg theory is orders of magnitude larger than the thermal noise in fluid convection experiments, and is comparable to the noise found in experiments with oscillated granular layers and in recent fluid experiments on fluids near the critical point. Good agreement is found between the mean field value of onset from the Swift-Hohenberg fit and the onset in continuum simulations. Patterns are compared in cells oscillated at two different frequencies in MD; the layer with larger wavelength patterns has less noise than the layer with smaller wavelength patterns.Comment: Published in Physical Review

    Anyonic Defect Braiding and Spontaneous Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Dihedral Liquid Crystals

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    Dihedral ('kk-atic') liquid crystals (DLCs) are assemblies of microscopic constituent particles that exhibit kk-fold discrete rotational and reflection symmetries. Generalizing the half-integer defects in nematic liquid crystals, two-dimensional kk-atic DLCs can host point defects of fractional topological charge ±m/k\pm m/k. Starting from a generic microscopic model, we derive a unified hydrodynamic description of DLCs with aligning or anti-aligning short-range interactions in terms of Ginzburg-Landau and Landau-Brazovskii-Swift-Hohenberg theories for a universal complex order-parameter field. Building on this framework, we demonstrate in both particle and continuum simulations how adiabatic braiding protocols, implemented through suitable boundary conditions, can emulate anyonic exchange behavior in a classical system. Analytic solutions and simulations of the mean-field theory further predict a novel spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking transition in anti-aligning DLCs, in quantitative agreement with the patterns observed in particle simulations.Comment: Figs. 3, 6 and S1 added; Analytic solutions added (Sec. V.B.4, Appendix C), Refs. [8], [14], [26], [53]-[60], [80], [81] adde

    Two-dimensional structures in the quintic Ginzburg-Landau equation

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    By using ZEUS cluster at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University we perform extensive numerical simulations based on a two-dimensional Fourier spectral method Fourier spatial discretization and an explicit scheme for time differencing) to find the range of existence of the spatiotemporal solitons of the two-dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with cubic and quintic nonlinearities. We start from the parameters used by Akhmediev {\it et. al.} and slowly vary them one by one to determine the regimes where solitons exist as stable/unstable structures. We present eight classes of dissipative solitons from which six are known (stationary, pulsating, vortex spinning, filament, exploding, creeping) and two are novel (creeping-vortex propellers and spinning "bean-shaped" solitons). By running lengthy simulations for the different parameters of the equation, we find ranges of existence of stable structures (stationary, pulsating, circular vortex spinning, organized exploding), and unstable structures (elliptic vortex spinning that leads to filament, disorganized exploding, creeping). Moreover, by varying even the two initial conditions together with vorticity, we find a richer behavior in the form of creeping-vortex propellers, and spinning "bean-shaped" solitons. Each class differentiates from the other by distinctive features of their energy evolution, shape of initial conditions, as well as domain of existence of parameters.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figures, 8 tables, updated text and reference

    The effect of cusps in time-dependent quantum mechanics

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    Spatial cusps in initial wavefunctions can lead to non-analytic behavior in time. We suggest a method for calculating the short-time behavior in such situations. For these cases, the density does not match its Taylor-expansion in time, but the Runge-Gross proof of time-dependent density functional theory still holds, as it requires only the potential to be time-analytic.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

    Pulses and Snakes in Ginzburg--Landau Equation

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    Using a variational formulation for partial differential equations (PDEs) combined with numerical simulations on ordinary differential equations (ODEs), we find two categories (pulses and snakes) of dissipative solitons, and analyze the dependence of both their shape and stability on the physical parameters of the cubic-quintic Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE). In contrast to the regular solitary waves investigated in numerous integrable and non-integrable systems over the last three decades, these dissipative solitons are not stationary in time. Rather, they are spatially confined pulse-type structures whose envelopes exhibit complicated temporal dynamics. Numerical simulations reveal very interesting bifurcations sequences as the parameters of the CGLE are varied. Our predictions on the variation of the soliton amplitude, width, position, speed and phase of the solutions using the variational formulation agree with simulation results.Comment: 30 pages, 14 figure

    Modulational Instability in Equations of KdV Type

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    It is a matter of experience that nonlinear waves in dispersive media, propagating primarily in one direction, may appear periodic in small space and time scales, but their characteristics --- amplitude, phase, wave number, etc. --- slowly vary in large space and time scales. In the 1970's, Whitham developed an asymptotic (WKB) method to study the effects of small "modulations" on nonlinear periodic wave trains. Since then, there has been a great deal of work aiming at rigorously justifying the predictions from Whitham's formal theory. We discuss recent advances in the mathematical understanding of the dynamics, in particular, the instability of slowly modulated wave trains for nonlinear dispersive equations of KdV type.Comment: 40 pages. To appear in upcoming title in Lecture Notes in Physic
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