Alfven soliton and multisoliton dynamics perturbed by nonlinear Landau damping

Abstract

The evolution of weakly dispersive nonlinear Alfven waves propagating either parallel or oblique to the ambient magnetic field is investigated through the derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equation (DNLS) perturbed by nonlinear Landau damping. The dynamics is analyzed with the aid of a numeric algorithm based on the inverse scattering transform (IST) and an adiabatic model that takes advantages of the perturbed DNLS invariants. Both techniques are applied to five types of DNLS soliton and multisoliton solutions: (i) the parallel Alfven soliton, (ii) the bright and dark one-parameter oblique, (iii) the breather two-parameter oblique, (iv) two parallel Alfven solitons, and (v) the combination of a dark and a bright oblique solitons. For the parallel solitons, the adiabatic model describes correctly the dynamics and it also recovers the well-known result given by the perturbed IST. Due to the radiation emission and the formation of dark solitons, the behavior of oblique solitons is more complicated and multisoliton solutions are required in the adiabatic model. The analysis shows that parallel solitons develop into the normal regime, whereas the oblique waves leads to the formation of dark solitons and breathers with a wavepacket form.