Solitary wave interaction for a higher-order nonlinear Schrodinger equation

Solitary wave interaction for a higher-order version of thenonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation is examined. An asymptotictransformation is used to transform a higher-order NLS equationto a higher-order member of the NLS integrable hierarchy, ifan algebraic relationship between the higher-order coefficientsis satisfied. The transformation is used to derive the higher-orderone- and two-soliton solutions; in general, the N-soliton solutioncan be derived. It is shown that the higher-order collisionis asymptotically elastic and analytical expressions are foundfor the higher-order phase and coordinate shifts. Numericalsimulations of the interaction of two higher-order solitarywaves are also performed. Two examples are considered, one satisfiesthe algebraic relationship derived from asymptotic theory, andthe other does not. For the example which satisfies the algebraicrelationship, the numerical results confirm that the collisionis elastic. The numerical and theoretical predictions for thehigher-order phase and coordinate shifts are also in strongagreement. For the example which does not satisfy the algebraicrelationship, the numerical results show that the collisionis inelastic and radiation is shed by the solitary wave collision.As the bed of radiation shed by the waves decays very slowly(like t^–), it is computationally infeasible to calculatethe final phase and coordinate shifts for the inelastic example.An asymptotic conservation law is derived and used to test thefinite-difference scheme for the numerical solutions.