Dark solitons and vortices in PT-symmetric nonlinear media: from spontaneous symmetry breaking to nonlinear PT phase transitions

We consider nonlinear analogues of Parity-Time (PT) symmetric linear systems exhibiting defocusing nonlinearities. We study the ground state and excited states (dark solitons and vortices) of the system and report the following remarkable features. For relatively weak values of the parameter $\varepsilon$ controlling the strength of the PT-symmetric potential, excited states undergo (analytically tractable) spontaneous symmetry breaking; as $\varepsilon$ is further increased, the ground state and first excited state, as well as branches of higher multi-soliton (multi-vortex) states, collide in pairs and disappear in blue-sky bifurcations, in a way which is strongly reminiscent of the linear PT-phase transition ---thus termed the nonlinear PT-phase transition. Past this critical point, initialization of, e.g., the former ground state leads to spontaneously emerging solitons and vortices.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Discrete Breathers in a Nonlinear Polarizability Model of Ferroelectrics

We present a family of discrete breathers, which exists in a nonlinear polarizability model of ferroelectric materials. The core-shell model is set up in its non-dimensionalized Hamiltonian form and its linear spectrum is examined. Subsequently, seeking localized solutions in the gap of the linear spectrum, we establish that numerically exact and potentially stable discrete breathers exist for a wide range of frequencies therein. In addition, we present nonlinear normal mode, extended spatial profile solutions from which the breathers bifurcate, as well as other associated phenomena such as the formation of phantom breathers within the model. The full bifurcation picture of the emergence and disappearance of the breathers is complemented by direct numerical simulations of their dynamical instability, when the latter arises.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Dynamical Superfluid-Insulator Transition in a Chain of Weakly Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates

We predict a dynammical classical superfluid-insulator transition (CSIT) in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in an optical and a magnetic potential. In the tight-binding limit, this system realizes an array of weakly-coupled condensates driven by an external harmonic field. For small displacements of the parabolic trap about the equilibrium position, the BEC center of mass oscillates with the relative phases of neighbouring condensates locked at the same (oscillating) value. For large displacements, the BEC remains localized on the side of the harmonic trap. This is caused by a randomization of the relative phases, while the coherence of each individual condensate in the array is preserved. The CSIT is attributed to a discrete modulational instability, occurring when the BEC center of mass velocity is larger than a critical value, proportional to the tunneling rate between adjacent sites.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Coarse-grained computations of demixing in dense gas-fluidized beds

We use an "equation-free", coarse-grained computational approach to accelerate molecular dynamics-based computations of demixing (segregation) of dissimilar particles subject to an upward gas flow (gas-fluidized beds). We explore the coarse-grained dynamics of these phenomena in gently fluidized beds of solid mixtures of different densities, typically a slow process for which reasonable continuum models are currently unavailable

Vortices in Bose-Einstein Condensates: Some Recent Developments

In this brief review we summarize a number of recent developments in the study of vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates, a topic of considerable theoretical and experimental interest in the past few years. We examine the generation of vortices by means of phase imprinting, as well as via dynamical instabilities. Their stability is subsequently examined in the presence of purely magnetic trapping, and in the combined presence of magnetic and optical trapping. We then study pairs of vortices and their interactions, illustrating a reduced description in terms of ordinary differential equations for the vortex centers. In the realm of two vortices we also consider the existence of stable dipole clusters for two-component condensates. Last but not least, we discuss mesoscopic patterns formed by vortices, the so-called vortex lattices and analyze some of their intriguing dynamical features. A number of interesting future directions are highlighted.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figs, ws-mplb.cls, to appear in Modern Physics Letters B (2005

Nonlinear Excitations, Stability Inversions and Dissipative Dynamics in Quasi-one-dimensional Polariton Condensates

We consider the existence, stability and dynamics of the ground state and nonlinear excitations, in the form of dark solitons, for a quasi-one-dimensional polariton condensate in the presence of pumping and nonlinear damping. We find a series of remarkable features that can be directly contrasted to the case of the typically energy-conserving ultracold alkali-atom Bose-Einstein condensates. For some sizeable parameter ranges, the nodeless ("ground") state becomes {\it unstable} towards the formation of {\em stable} nonlinear single or {\em multi} dark-soliton excitations. It is also observed that for suitable parametric choices, the instability of single dark solitons can nucleate multi-dark-soliton states. Also, for other parametric regions, {\em stable asymmetric} sawtooth-like solutions exist. Finally, we consider the dragging of a defect through the condensate and the interference of two initially separated condensates, both of which are capable of nucleating dark multi-soliton dynamical states.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Solitary Waves Under the Competition of Linear and Nonlinear Periodic Potentials

In this paper, we study the competition of linear and nonlinear lattices and its effects on the stability and dynamics of bright solitary waves. We consider both lattices in a perturbative framework, whereby the technique of Hamiltonian perturbation theory can be used to obtain information about the existence of solutions, and the same approach, as well as eigenvalue count considerations, can be used to obtained detailed conditions about their linear stability. We find that the analytical results are in very good agreement with our numerical findings and can also be used to predict features of the dynamical evolution of such solutions.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Pattern Forming Dynamical Instabilities of Bose-Einstein Condensates: A Short Review

In this short topical review, we revisit a number of works on the pattern-forming dynamical instabilities of Bose-Einstein condensates in one- and two-dimensional settings. In particular, we illustrate the trapping conditions that allow the reduction of the three-dimensional, mean field description of the condensates (through the Gross-Pitaevskii equation) to such lower dimensional settings, as well as to lattice settings. We then go on to study the modulational instability in one dimension and the snaking/transverse instability in two dimensions as typical examples of long-wavelength perturbations that can destabilize the condensates and lead to the formation of patterns of coherent structures in them. Trains of solitons in one-dimension and vortex arrays in two-dimensions are prototypical examples of the resulting nonlinear waveforms, upon which we briefly touch at the end of this review.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, publishe