The aim of the present review is to introduce the reader to some of the
physical notions and of the mathematical methods that are relevant to the study
of nonlinear waves in Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs). Upon introducing the
general framework, we discuss the prototypical models that are relevant to this
setting for different dimensions and different potentials confining the atoms.
We analyze some of the model properties and explore their typical wave
solutions (plane wave solutions, bright, dark, gap solitons, as well as
vortices). We then offer a collection of mathematical methods that can be used
to understand the existence, stability and dynamics of nonlinear waves in such
BECs, either directly or starting from different types of limits (e.g., the
linear or the nonlinear limit, or the discrete limit of the corresponding
equation). Finally, we consider some special topics involving more recent
developments, and experimental setups in which there is still considerable need
for developing mathematical as well as computational tools.Comment: 69 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Nonlinearity, 2008. V2: new
references added, fixed typo
