Two-Mode Wave Solutions to the Degasperis--Procesi Equation

By introducing a new type of solutions, called the multiple-mode wave solutions which can be expressed in nonlinear superposition of single-mode waves with different speeds, we investigate the two-mode wave solutions in Degasperis--Procesi equation and two cases are derived. The explicit expressions for the two-mode waves as well as the existence conditions are presented. It is shown that the two-mode waves may be the nonlinear combinations of many types of single-mode waves, such as periodic waves, solitons, compactons, etc., and more complicated multiple-mode waves can be obtained if higher order or more single-mode waves are taken into consideration. It is pointed out that the two-mode wave solutions can be employed to display the typical mechanism of the interactions between different single-mode waves.