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1. Whitham modulation theory for the defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation in two and three spatial dimensions

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/acb117  

   Abeya, Asela ; Biondini, Gino ; Hoefer, Mark A ( January 2023 , Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical)

   Abstract The Whitham modulation equations for the defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation in two, three and higher spatial dimensions are derived using a two-phase ansatz for the periodic traveling wave solutions and by period-averaging the conservation laws of the NLS equation. The resulting Whitham modulation equations are written in vector form, which allows one to show that they preserve the rotational invariance of the NLS equation, as well as the invariance with respect to scaling and Galilean transformations, and to immediately generalize the calculations from two spatial dimensions to three. The transformation to Riemann-type variables is described in detail; the harmonic and soliton limits of the Whitham modulation equations are explicitly written down; and the reduction of the Whitham equations to those for the radial NLS equation is explicitly carried out. Finally, the extension of the theory to higher spatial dimensions is briefly outlined. The multidimensional NLS-Whitham equations obtained here may be used to study large amplitude wavetrains in a variety of applications including nonlinear photonics and matter waves. 

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2. On the Whitham system for the radial nonlinear Schrödinger equation

   https://doi.org/10.1111/sapm.12254  

   Ablowitz, Mark J. ; Cole, Justin T. ; Rumanov, Igor ( January 2019 , Studies in Applied Mathematics)

   Dispersive shock waves (DSWs) of the defocusing radial nonlinear Schrödinger (rNLS) equation in two spatial dimensions are studied. This equation arises naturally in Bose‐Einstein condensates, water waves, and nonlinear optics. A unified nonlinear WKB approach, equally applicable to integrable or nonintegrable partial differential equations, is used to find the rNLS Whitham modulation equation system in both physical and hydrodynamic type variables. The description of DSWs obtained via Whitham theory is compared with direct rNLS numerics; the results demonstrate very good quantitative agreement. On the other hand, as expected, comparison with the corresponding DSW solutions of the one‐dimensional NLS equation exhibits significant qualitative and quantitative differences.

    

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3. Nonlinear Schrödinger equations and the universal description of dispersive shock wave structure

   https://doi.org/10.1111/sapm.12247  

   Congy, T. ; El, G. A. ; Hoefer, M. A. ; Shearer, M. ( November 2018 , Studies in Applied Mathematics)

   The nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation and the Whitham modulation equations both describe slowly varying, locally periodic nonlinear wavetrains, albeit in differing amplitude‐frequency domains. In this paper, we take advantage of the overlapping asymptotic regime that applies to both the NLS and Whitham modulation descriptions in order to develop a universal analytical description of dispersive shock waves (DSWs) generated in Riemann problems for a broad class of integrable and nonintegrable nonlinear dispersive equations. The proposed method extends DSW fitting theory that prescribes the motion of a DSW's edges into the DSW's interior, that is, this work reveals the DSW structure. Our approach also provides a natural framework in which to analyze DSW stability. We consider several representative, physically relevant examples that illustrate the efficacy of the developed general theory. Comparisons with direct numerical simulations show that inclusion of higher order terms in the NLS equation enables a remarkably accurate description of the DSW structure in a broad region that extends from the harmonic, small amplitude edge.

    

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4. Whitham modulation theory for generalized Whitham equations and a general criterion for modulational instability

   https://doi.org/10.1111/sapm.12398  

   Binswanger, Adam L. ; Hoefer, Mark A. ; Ilan, Boaz ; Sprenger, Patrick ( May 2021 , Studies in Applied Mathematics)

   The Whitham equation was proposed as a model for surface water waves that combines the quadratic flux nonlinearityof the Korteweg–de Vries equation and the full linear dispersion relationof unidirectional gravity water waves in suitably scaled variables. This paper proposes and analyzes a generalization of Whitham's model to unidirectional nonlinear wave equations consisting of a general nonlinear flux functionand a general linear dispersion relation. Assuming the existence of periodic traveling wave solutions to this generalized Whitham equation, their slow modulations are studied in the context of Whitham modulation theory. A multiple scales calculation yields the modulation equations, a system of three conservation laws that describe the slow evolution of the periodic traveling wave's wavenumber, amplitude, and mean. In the weakly nonlinear limit, explicit, simple criteria in terms of generalandestablishing the strict hyperbolicity and genuine nonlinearity of the modulation equations are determined. This result is interpreted as a generalized Lighthill–Whitham criterion for modulational instability.

    

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5. Ground states in spatially discrete non-linear Schrödinger models

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6544/acdbfc  

   Stefanov, Atanas G. ; Ross, Ryan M. ; Kevrekidis, Panayotis G. ( June 2023 , Nonlinearity)

   In the seminal work (Weinstein 1999Nonlinearity12673), Weinstein considered the question of the ground states for discrete Schrödinger equations with power law nonlinearities, posed on${\mathbb{Z}}^d$. More specifically, he constructed the so-called normalised waves, by minimising the Hamiltonian functional, for fixed powerP(i.e.l²mass). This type of variational method allows one to claim, in a straightforward manner, set stability for such waves. In this work, we revisit these questions and build upon Weinstein’s work, as well as the innovative variational methods introduced for this problem in (Laedkeet al1994Phys. Rev. Lett.731055 and Laedkeet al1996Phys. Rev.E544299) in several directions. First, for the normalised waves, we show that they are in fact spectrally stable as solutions of the corresponding discrete nonlinear Schroedinger equation (NLS) evolution equation. Next, we construct the so-called homogeneous waves, by using a different constrained optimisation problem. Importantly, this construction works for all values of the parameters, e.g.l²supercritical problems. We establish a rigorous criterion for stability, which decides the stability on the homogeneous waves, based on the classical Grillakis–Shatah–Strauss/Vakhitov–Kolokolov (GSS/VK) quantity${\mathrm{\partial }}_{\omega }\parallel {\phi }_{\omega }{\parallel }_{l^2}^2$. In addition, we provide some symmetry results for the solitons. Finally, we complement our results with numerical computations, which showcase the full agreement between the conclusion from the GSS/VK criterion vis-á-vis with the linearised problem. In particular, one observes that it is possible for the stability of the wave to change as the spectral parameterωvaries, in contrast with the corresponding continuous NLS model.

    

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