Boundary effects on localized structures in spatially extended systems

We present a general method of analyzing the influence of finite size and boundary effects on the dynamics of localized solutions of non-linear spatially extended systems. The dynamics of localized structures in infinite systems involve solvability conditions that require projection onto a Goldstone mode. Our method works by extending the solvability conditions to finite sized systems, by incorporating the finite sized modifications of the Goldstone mode and associated nonzero eigenvalue. We apply this method to the special case of non-equilibrium domain walls under the influence of Dirichlet boundary conditions in a parametrically forced complex Ginzburg Landau equation, where we examine exotic nonuniform domain wall motion due to the influence of boundary conditions.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Complex sine-Gordon-2: a new algorithm for multivortex solutions on the plane

We present a new vorticity-raising transformation for the second integrable complexification of the sine-Gordon equation on the plane. The new transformation is a product of four Schlesinger maps of the Painlev\'{e}-V to itself, and allows a more efficient construction of the $n$-vortex solution than the previously reported transformation comprising a product of $2n$ maps.Comment: Part of a talk given at a conference on "Nonlinear Physics. Theory and Experiment", Gallipoli (Lecce), June-July 2004. To appear in a topical issue of "Theoretical and Mathematical Physics". 7 pages, 1 figur

Exact vortex solutions of the complex sine-Gordon theory on the plane

We construct explicit multivortex solutions for the first and second complex sine-Gordon equations. The constructed solutions are expressible in terms of the modified Bessel and rational functions, respectively. The vorticity-raising and lowering Backlund transformations are interpreted as the Schlesinger transformations of the fifth Painleve equation.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Existence threshold for the ac-driven damped nonlinear Schr\"odinger solitons

It has been known for some time that solitons of the externally driven, damped nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation can only exist if the driver's strength, $h$, exceeds approximately $(2/ \pi) \gamma$, where $\gamma$ is the dissipation coefficient. Although this perturbative result was expected to be correct only to the leading order in $\gamma$, recent studies have demonstrated that the formula $h_{thr}= (2 /\pi) \gamma$ gives a remarkably accurate description of the soliton's existence threshold prompting suggestions that it is, in fact, exact. In this note we evaluate the next order in the expansion of $h_{thr}(\gamma)$ showing that the actual reason for this phenomenon is simply that the next-order coefficient is anomalously small: $h_{thr}=(2/ \pi) \gamma + 0.002 \gamma^3$. Our approach is based on a singular perturbation expansion of the soliton near the turning point; it allows to evaluate $h_{thr}(\gamma)$ to all orders in $\gamma$ and can be easily reformulated for other perturbed soliton equations.Comment: 8 pages in RevTeX; 5 figures in ps format included in the text. To be published in Physica

PT\mathcal{PT}-symmetry breaking in a necklace of coupled optical waveguides

We consider parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetric arrays formed by $N$ optical waveguides with gain and $N$ waveguides with loss. When the gain-loss coefficient exceeds a critical value $\gamma_c$, the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry becomes spontaneously broken. We calculate $\gamma_c(N)$ and prove that $\gamma_c \to 0$ as $N \to \infty$. In the symmetric phase, the periodic array is shown to support $2N$ solitons with different frequencies and polarisations.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Excitation of travelling multibreathers in anharmonic chains

We study the dynamics of the "externally" forced and damped Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) 1D lattice. The forcing has the spatial symmetry of the Fourier mode with wavenumber p and oscillates sinusoidally in time with the frequency omega. When omega is in the phonon band, the p-mode becomes modulationally unstable above a critical forcing, which we determine analytically in terms of the parameters of the system. For omega above the phonon band, the instability of the p-mode leads to the formation of a travelling multibreather, that, in the low-amplitude limit could be described in terms of soliton solutions of a suitable driven-damped nonlinear Schroedinger (NLS) equation. Similar mechanisms of instability could show up in easy-axis magnetic structures, that are governed by such NLS equations.Comment: To appear in Physica D (2002