532 research outputs found
Invariants and Labels in Lie-Poisson Systems
Reduction is a process that uses symmetry to lower the order of a Hamiltonian
system. The new variables in the reduced picture are often not canonical: there
are no clear variables representing positions and momenta, and the Poisson
bracket obtained is not of the canonical type. Specifically, we give two
examples that give rise to brackets of the noncanonical Lie-Poisson form: the
rigid body and the two-dimensional ideal fluid. From these simple cases, we
then use the semidirect product extension of algebras to describe more complex
physical systems. The Casimir invariants in these systems are examined, and
some are shown to be linked to the recovery of information about the
configuration of the system. We discuss a case in which the extension is not a
semidirect product, namely compressible reduced MHD, and find for this case
that the Casimir invariants lend partial information about the configuration of
the system.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX. To appear in Proceedings of the 13th Florida
Workshop in Astronomy and Physic
Pattern formation in crystal growth under parabolic shear flow
Morphological instability of the solid-liquid interface occuring in a crystal
growing from an undercooled thin liquid being bounded on one side by a free
surface and flowing down inclined plane is investigated by a linear stability
analysis under shear flow. It is found that restoring forces due to gravity and
surface tension is important factor for stabilization of the solid-liquid
interface on long length scales. This is a new stabilizing effect different
from the Gibbs-Thomson effect. A particular long wavelength mode of about 1 cm
of wavy pattern observed on the surface of icicles covered with thin layer of
flowing water is obtained from the dispersion relation including the effect of
flow and restoring forces.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figure
Modulational Instability in Equations of KdV Type
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
Modulational instability in nonlocal nonlinear Kerr media
We study modulational instability (MI) of plane waves in nonlocal nonlinear
Kerr media. For a focusing nonlinearity we show that, although the nonlocality
tends to suppress MI, it can never remove it completely, irrespectively of the
particular profile of the nonlocal response function. For a defocusing
nonlinearity the stability properties depend sensitively on the response
function profile: for a smooth profile (e.g., a Gaussian) plane waves are
always stable, but MI may occur for a rectangular response. We also find that
the reduced model for a weak nonlocality predicts MI in defocusing media for
arbitrary response profiles, as long as the intensity exceeds a certain
critical value. However, it appears that this regime of MI is beyond the
validity of the reduced model, if it is to represent the weakly nonlocal limit
of a general nonlocal nonlinearity, as in optics and the theory of
Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 8 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Scarred Patterns in Surface Waves
Surface wave patterns are investigated experimentally in a system geometry
that has become a paradigm of quantum chaos: the stadium billiard. Linear waves
in bounded geometries for which classical ray trajectories are chaotic are
known to give rise to scarred patterns. Here, we utilize parametrically forced
surface waves (Faraday waves), which become progressively nonlinear beyond the
wave instability threshold, to investigate the subtle interplay between
boundaries and nonlinearity. Only a subset (three main types) of the computed
linear modes of the stadium are observed in a systematic scan. These correspond
to modes in which the wave amplitudes are strongly enhanced along paths
corresponding to certain periodic ray orbits. Many other modes are found to be
suppressed, in general agreement with a prediction by Agam and Altshuler based
on boundary dissipation and the Lyapunov exponent of the associated orbit.
Spatially asymmetric or disordered (but time-independent) patterns are also
found even near onset. As the driving acceleration is increased, the
time-independent scarred patterns persist, but in some cases transitions
between modes are noted. The onset of spatiotemporal chaos at higher forcing
amplitude often involves a nonperiodic oscillation between spatially ordered
and disordered states. We characterize this phenomenon using the concept of
pattern entropy. The rate of change of the patterns is found to be reduced as
the state passes temporarily near the ordered configurations of lower entropy.
We also report complex but highly symmetric (time-independent) patterns far
above onset in the regime that is normally chaotic.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures (low resolution gif files). Updated and added
references and text. For high resolution images:
http://physics.clarku.edu/~akudrolli/stadium.htm
Variational Approach to the Modulational Instability
We study the modulational stability of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation
(NLS) using a time-dependent variational approach. Within this framework, we
derive ordinary differential equations (ODEs) for the time evolution of the
amplitude and phase of modulational perturbations. Analyzing the ensuing ODEs,
we re-derive the classical modulational instability criterion. The case
(relevant to applications in optics and Bose-Einstein condensation) where the
coefficients of the equation are time-dependent, is also examined
Description of the inelastic collision of two solitary waves for the BBM equation
We prove that the collision of two solitary waves of the BBM equation is
inelastic but almost elastic in the case where one solitary wave is small in
the energy space. We show precise estimates of the nonzero residue due to the
collision. Moreover, we give a precise description of the collision phenomenon
(change of size of the solitary waves).Comment: submitted for publication. Corrected typo in Theorem 1.
Landau Damping and Coherent Structures in Narrow-Banded 1+1 Deep Water Gravity Waves
We study the nonlinear energy transfer around the peak of the spectrum of
surface gravity waves by taking into account nonhomogeneous effects. In the
narrow-banded approximation the kinetic equation resulting from a
nonhomogeneous wave field is a Vlasov-Poisson type equation which includes at
the same time the random version of the Benjamin-Feir instability and the
Landau damping phenomenon. We analytically derive the values of the Phillips'
constant and the enhancement factor for which the
narrow-banded approximation of the JONSWAP spectrum is unstable. By performing
numerical simulations of the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation we check the
validity of the prediction of the related kinetic equation. We find that the
effect of Landau damping is to suppress the formation of coherent structures.
The problem of predicting freak waves is briefly discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Orbital stability: analysis meets geometry
We present an introduction to the orbital stability of relative equilibria of
Hamiltonian dynamical systems on (finite and infinite dimensional) Banach
spaces. A convenient formulation of the theory of Hamiltonian dynamics with
symmetry and the corresponding momentum maps is proposed that allows us to
highlight the interplay between (symplectic) geometry and (functional) analysis
in the proofs of orbital stability of relative equilibria via the so-called
energy-momentum method. The theory is illustrated with examples from finite
dimensional systems, as well as from Hamiltonian PDE's, such as solitons,
standing and plane waves for the nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation, for the
wave equation, and for the Manakov system
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