Korteweg-de Vries description of Helmholtz–Kerr dark solitons

Abstract

A wide variety of different physical systems can be described by a relatively small set of universal equations. For example, small-amplitude nonlinear Schrodinger dark solitons can be described by a Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. Reductive perturbation theory, based on linear boosts and Gallilean transformations, is often employed to establish connections to and between such universal equations. Here, a novel analytical approach reveals that the evolution of small-amplitude Helmholtz–Kerr dark solitons is also governed by a KdV equation. This broadens the class of nonlinear systems that are known to possess KdV soliton solutions, and provides a framework for perturbative analyses when propagation angles are not negligibly small. The derivation of this KdV equation involves an element that appears new to weakly nonlinear analyses, since transformations are required to preserve the rotational symmetry inherent to Helmholtz-type equations.