Nonlinear degenerate resonance interaction of waves on a charged liquid surface

Abstract

The physics of nonlinear degenerate resonance energy exchange between waves on the flat free charged surface of a conducting liquid is analytically (asymptotically) studied up to the second order of smallness. A set of differential equations for the evolution of the amplitudes of nonlinearly resonantly interacting waves is derived. It turns out that nonlinear computations (taking into account the dependence of the wave frequency on the finite amplitude) yield an infinite number of degenerate resonances, although computations based on frequencies found in the linear theory give a finite number of resonances. In nonlinear computations, the positions of the degenerate resonances depend on the surface charge density (or on the external electric field normal to the free surface of the liquid) in contrast to the results of linear computations (based on frequencies found in the linear theory). It is found that as the wavenumber of an exact degenerate resonance is approached (that is, in the vicinity of this number), the direction of energy transfer changes sign: now the energy is transferred from a shorter wave to a longer one and not the reverse.