Boundary driven waveguide arrays: Supratransmission and saddle-node bifurcation

In this report, we consider a semi-infinite discrete nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation driven at one edge by a driving force. The equation models the dynamics of coupled waveguide arrays. When the frequency of the forcing is in the allowed-band of the system, there will be a linear transmission of energy through the lattice. Yet, if the frequency is in the upper forbidden band, then there is a critical driving amplitude for a nonlinear tunneling, which is called supratransmission, of energy to occur. Here, we discuss mathematically the mechanism and the source of the supratransmission. By analyzing the existence and the stability of the rapidly decaying static discrete solitons of the system, we show rigorously that two of the static solitons emerge and disappear in a saddle-node bifurcation at a critical driving amplitude. One of the emerging solitons is always stable in its existence region and the other is always unstable. We argue that the critical amplitude for supratransmission is then the same as the critical driving amplitude of the saddle-node bifurcation. We consider as well the case of the forcing frequency in the lower forbidden band. It is discussed briefly that there is no supratransmission because in this case there is only one rapidly decaying static soliton that exists and is stable for any driving amplitude.Comment: Some figures are removed due to file size limi

Brane-world models emerging from collisions of plane waves in 5D

We consider brane-world models embedded in a five-dimensional bulk spacetime with a large extra dimension and a cosmological constant. The cosmology in $5D$ possesses "wave-like" character in the sense that the metric coefficients in the bulk are assumed to have the form of plane waves propagating in the fifth dimension. We model the brane as the "plane" of collision of waves propagating in opposite directions along the extra dimension. This plane is a jump discontinuity which presents the usual ${\bf Z}_2$ symmetry of brane models. The model reproduces the {\em generalized} Friedmann equation for the evolution on the brane, regardless of the specific details in $5D$. Model solutions with spacelike extra coordinate show the usual {\em big-bang} behavior, while those with timelike extra dimension present a {\em big bounce}. This bounce is an genuine effect of a timelike extra dimension. We argue that, based on our current knowledge, models having a large timelike extra dimension cannot be dismissed as mathematical curiosities in non-physical solutions. The size of the extra dimension is small today, but it is {\em increasing} if the universe is expanding with acceleration. Also, the expansion rate of the fifth dimension can be expressed in a simple way through the four-dimensional "deceleration" and Hubble parameters as $- q H$. These predictions could have important observational implications, notably for the time variation of rest mass, electric charge and the gravitational "constant". They hold for the three $(k = 0, + 1, - 1)$ models with arbitrary cosmological constant, and are independent of the signature of the extra dimension.Comment: In V2 the signature of the extra dimension is discussed and new references are added. In V3 typos are correcte