Preserving dissipation in approximate inertial forms for the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation

It has been observed, in earlier computations of bifurcation diagrams for dissipative partial differential equations, that the use of certain explicit approximate inertial forms can give rise to numerical artifacts such as spurious turning points and inaccurate solution branches. These shortcomings were attributed to a lack of dissipation in the forms used. We show analytically and verify numerically that with an appropriate adjustment we can eliminate these numerical artifacts. The motivation for this adjustment is to enforce dissipation, while maintaining the same order of approximation. We demonstrate with computations that the most natural remedy, namely, preparation of the equation, can be highly sensitive to assumptions on the size of the absorbing ball. In addition, we show that certain implicit forms are dissipative without any adjustment. As an illustrative example we use here the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation.     

Trapping of two-component matter-wave solitons by mismatched optical lattices

We consider a one-dimensional model of a two-component Bose–Einstein condensate in the presence of periodic external potentials of opposite signs, acting on the two species. The interaction between the species is attractive, while intra-species interactions may be attractive too [the system of the bright–bright (BB) type], or of opposite signs in the two components [the gap–bright (GB) type]. We identify the existence and stability domains for soliton complexes of the BB and GB types. The evolution of unstable solitons leads to the establishment of oscillatory states. The increase of the strength of the nonlinear attraction between the species results in symbiotic stabilization of the complexes, despite the fact that one component is centered around a local maximum of the respective periodic potential.     

Template-Based Stabilization of Relative Equilibria in Systems with Continuous Symmetry

We present an approach to the design of feedback control laws that stabilize relative equilibria of general nonlinear systems with continuous symmetry. Using a template-based method, we factor out the dynamics associated with the symmetry variables and obtain evolution equations in a reduced frame that evolves in the symmetry direction. The relative equilibria of the original systems are fixed points of these reduced equations. Our controller design methodology is based on the linearization of the reduced equations about such fixed points. We present two different approaches of control design. The first approach assumes that the closed loop system is affine in the control and that the actuation is equivariant. We derive feedback laws for the reduced system that minimize a quadratic cost function. The second approach is more general; here the actuation need not be equivariant, but the actuators can be translated in the symmetry direction. The controller resulting from this approach leaves the dynamics associated with the symmetry variable unchanged. Both approaches are simple to implement, as they use standard tools available from linear control theory. We illustrate the approaches on three examples: a rotationally invariant planar ODE, an inverted pendulum on a cart, and the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation with periodic boundary conditions.     

Dark solitons in external potentials

We consider the persistence and stability of dark solitons in the Gross–Pitaevskii (GP) equation with a small decaying potential. We show that families of black solitons with zero speed originate from extremal points of an appropriately defined effective potential and persist for sufficiently small strength of the potential. We prove that families at the maximum points are generally unstable with exactly one real positive eigenvalue, while families at the minimum points are generally unstable with exactly two complex-conjugated eigenvalues with positive real part. This mechanism of destabilization of the black soliton is confirmed in numerical approximations of eigenvalues of the linearized GP equation and full numerical simulations of the nonlinear GP equation. We illustrate the monotonic instability associated with the real eigenvalues and the oscillatory instability associated with the complex eigenvalues and compare the numerical results of evolution of a dark soliton with the predictions of Newton’s particle law for its position.      

Wave initiation through spatiotemporally controllable perturbations

We study the initiation of pulses and fronts in a two-dimensional catalytic reaction-diffusion system: CO oxidation on Pt(110). Using a computer-controlled mobile focused laser beam, we impart various patterns (in space and time) of localized temperature "kicks" to the surface. We explore, and also rationalize through modeling, the cooperativity of such individually subcritical perturbations in both the excitable and the bistable regime.     

Dimension reduction in heterogeneous neural networks: Generalized Polynomial Chaos (gPC) and ANalysis-Of-VAriance (ANOVA)

We propose, and illustrate via a neural network example, two different approaches to coarse-graining large heterogeneous networks. Both approaches are inspired from, and use tools developed in, methods for uncertainty quantification (UQ) in systems with multiple uncertain parameters – in our case, the parameters are heterogeneously distributed on the network nodes. The approach shows promise in accelerating large scale network simulations as well as coarse-grained fixed point, periodic solution computation and stability analysis. We also demonstrate that the approach can successfully deal with structural as well as intrinsic heterogeneities.     

Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of a magnetic trap and optical lattice

In this paper we consider solutions of a nonlinear Schrodinger equation with a parabolic and a periodic potential motivated from the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. Our starting point is the corresponding linear problem which we analyze through regular perturbation and homogenization techniques. We then use Lyapunov-Schmidt theory to establish the persistence and bifurcation of the linear states in the presence of attractive and repulsive nonlinear inter-particle interactions. Stability of such solutions is also examined and a count is given of the potential real, complex and imaginary eigenvalues with negative Krein signature that such solutions may possess. The results are corroborated with numerical computations.     

Dark-bright discrete solitons: A numerical study of existence, stability and dynamics

In the present work, we numerically explore the existence and stability properties of different types of configurations of dark-bright solitons, dark-bright soliton pairs and pairs of dark-bright and dark solitons in discrete settings, starting from the anti-continuum limit. We find that while single discrete dark-bright solitons have similar stability properties to discrete dark solitons, their pairs may only be stable if the bright components are in phase and are always unstable if the bright components are out of phase. Pairs of dark-bright solitons with dark ones have similar stability properties as individual dark or dark-bright ones. Lastly, we consider collisions between dark-bright solitons and between a dark-bright one and a dark one. Especially in the latter and in the regime where the underlying lattice structure matters, we find a wide range of potential dynamical outcomes depending on the initial soliton speed.     

Peregrine solitons and gradient catastrophes in discrete nonlinear Schrödinger systems

In the present work, we examine the potential robustness of extreme wave events associated with large amplitude fluctuations of the Peregrine soliton type, upon departure from the integrable analogue of the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) equation, namely the Ablowitz–Ladik (AL) model. Our model of choice will be the so-called Salerno model, which interpolates between the AL and the DNLS models. We find that rogue wave events are drastically distorted even for very slight perturbations of the homotopic parameter connecting the two models off of the integrable limit. Our results suggest that the Peregrine soliton structure is a rather sensitive feature of the integrable limit, which may not persist under “generic” perturbations of the limiting integrable case.