Coalescence of Wavenumbers and Exact Solutions for a System of Coupled Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations

Abstract

An exact 2-soliton expression is obtained for the Manakov system, a special, coupled set of nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The solution permits different asymptotic states for the components in the far field. A `coalescence' of wavenumbers is considered from the perspective of the Hirota bilinear operator. This is roughly equivalent to a double (or in general multiple) pole solution in the language of the inverse scattering transform. Physically counterpropagating waves will occur. With the help of computer algebra software a 3-soliton solution is derived. Coalescence of eigenvalues is investigated. Temporal modulation of the amplitude is observed.