Compactons are robust solitary waves with compact support, since they almost retain their shape after mutual interactions. They are solutions of evolution equations with either degenerate nonlinear dispersion or a sublinearity. The most extensively studied case is the Rosenau–Hyman K(p,p) equation, whose compactons are strong solutions for 13. This equation also has anticompactons, but compacton–anticompacton collisions has only been studied for p=2 in symmetric head-on collisions of a compacton and an anticompacton with the same absolute amplitude. Here, asymmetric compacton–anticompacton collisions for integer p≥2 are studied by using computational simulations with small hyperviscosity. For odd p=3, 5, and 7, robust compacton–anticompacton collisions are observed, even with very small hyperviscosity parameter. But for even p=2, 4, and 6, the solution blows up unless the quotient of the absolute amplitudes of the compacton and the anticompacton are below a given threshold that depends on p and the hyperviscosity parameter. Our results stress that, for physical applications, the K(p,p) equation requires the addition of a small amount of viscosity for the robustness of the compacton and anticompacton interactions.
Read full abstract