Wave number shocks for the leading tail of Korteweg-de Vries solitary waves in slowly varying media

The leading tail for slowly varying solitary waves for the perturbed Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation is analyzed. The path of the core of the solitary wave is obtained and shown to provide a moving boundary for the leading tail. The leading tail is predicted to be triple valued within a penumbral caustic (envelope of characteristics) caused by the initial acceleration of the core. A rescaling in the neighborhood of the singularity shows that the solution there satisfies the diffusion equation. The solution involves an incomplete Airy-type exponential integral, where critical points (significant for Laplace's asymptotic method) satisfy the structure of the penumbral caustic. A wave number shock develops, which separates two different solitary wave tails, one due to the moving core and the other due to the initial condition. The shock velocity is that predicted from conservation of waves.