Interaction of sine-Gordon kinks with defects: phase space transport in a two-mode model

Roy Goodman, Philip Holmes, and Michael Weinstein. Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, 2002.
Jan 1, 2002·
Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman
Philip Holmes
Philip Holmes
Michael Weinstein
Michael Weinstein
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Abstract
We study a model derived by Fei et al. [Phys. Rev. A 45 (1992) 6019] of a kink solution to the sine-Gordon equation interacting with an impurity mode. The model is a two-degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian system. We investigate this model using the tools of dynamical systems, and show that it exhibits a variety of interesting behaviors including transverse heteroclinic orbits to degenerate equilibria at infinity, chaotic dynamics, and an extremely complex and delicate structure describing the interaction of the kink with the defect. We interpret this in terms of phase space transporttheory.
Type
Publication
Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, 161, 21–44
publication published
Roy Goodman
Authors
Professor, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, Department of Mathematical Sciences

I am a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at NJIT. My research applies methods of dynamical systems to (conservative, dispersive) nonlinear wave equations arising, for example, in optics and fluid mechanics. I am interested in dynamical and bifurcation phenomena, and I use techniques from Hamiltonian mechanics and perturbation theory, as well as extensive computations. My current research in vortex dynamics is supported by the NSF under DMS-2206016.

I led the effort to start the SIAM New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania Section (SIAM NNP) and was its first president in 2023-2024. I have handed over the reins to a new leadership group.

Philip Holmes
Authors
Professor Emeritus
Michael Weinstein
Authors
Professor