Solitary waves in nonlinear beam equations : stability, fission and fusion

Abstract

We continue work by the second author and co-workers onsolitary wave solutions of nonlinear beam equations and their stabilityand interaction properties. The equations are partial differentialequations that are fourth-order in space and second-order in time.First, we highlight similarities between the intricate structure ofsolitary wave solutions for two different nonlinearities; apiecewise-linear term versus an exponential approximation to thisnonlinearity which was shown in earlier work to possess remarkablystable solitary waves. Second, we compare two different numericalmethods for solving the time dependent problem. One uses a fixed griddiscretization and the other a moving mesh method. We use these methodsto shed light on the nonlinear dynamics of the solitary waves. Earlywork has reported how even quite complex solitary waves appear stable,and that stable waves appear to interact like solitons. Here we show twofurther effects. The first effect is that large complex waves can, as aresult of roundoff error, spontaneously decompose into two simplerwaves, a process we call fission. The second is the fusion of twostable waves into another plus a small amount of radiation.