Cubic–quintic long-range interactions with double well potentials

Abstract

In the present work, we examine the combined effects of cubic and quintic terms of the long-range type in the dynamics of a double well potential. Employing a two-mode approximation, we systematically develop two cubic–quintic ordinary differential equations and assess the contributions of the long-range interactions in each of the relevant prefactors, gauging how to simplify the ensuing dynamical system. Finally, we obtain a reduced canonical description for the conjugate variables of relative population imbalance and relative phase between the two wells and proceed to a dynamical systems analysis of the resulting pair of ordinary differential equations. While in the case of cubic and quintic interactions of the same kind (e.g. both attractive or both repulsive), only a symmetry-breaking bifurcation can be identified, a remarkable effect that emerges e.g. in the setting of repulsive cubic but attractive quintic interactions is a ‘symmetry-restoring’ bifurcation. Namely, in addition to the supercritical pitchfork that leads to a spontaneous symmetry breaking of the antisymmetric state, there is a subcritical pitchfork that eventually reunites the asymmetric daughter branch with the antisymmetric parent one. The relevant bifurcations, the stability of the branches and their dynamical implications are examined both in the reduced (ODE) and in the full (PDE) setting. The model is argued to be of physical relevance, especially so in the context of optical thermal media.