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Questions tagged [solitons]

Solitons are self-stabilizing solitary wave packets maintaining their shape propagating at a constant velocity. They are caused by a balance of nonlinear and dispersive (where the speed of the waves varies with frequency) effects in the medium.

1 vote
0 answers
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Is transition between field configurations a tunneling process?

I'm considering D=1+1 kink solution here. Given a D=2 theory with $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry, there are 4 different mappings (or 2 distinct sectors---trivial and kink) from spacetime manifold (or just a ...
Budding's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
561 views

Applications of Optical Solitons

It is well known for the past 50-60 years that intense laser beams can form into soliton/solitary waves. Those exist either spatially in CW beams or temporally in ultra-short pulses, and their ...
Amir Sagiv's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

Do solitons in QFT really exist? [closed]

In general, solitons are single-crest waves which travel at constant speed and don't loose their shape (due to their non-dispersivity), and there are many examples of them in the real world. Now in ...
Deschele Schilder's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
111 views

Why does this condition guarantees there exists only a finite number of discrete energy levels?

I'm reading section 2.2.1 of the book Solitons, Instantons and Twistors by Maciej Dunajski. The section is on the subject of direct scattering. It is claimed that, considering Schrodinger's equation ...
João Streibel's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
89 views

Gauge potential over $\mathbb{S}^4$ vs. $\mathbb{R}^4$

NICHOLAS MANTON in "Topological Solitons" says "One may also regard the gauge potential as a connection on an $SU(2)$ bundle over $\mathbb{S}^4$, with field strength $F$. The fact that we can ...
amilton moreira's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
902 views

Finding the energy of a solution to the Sine-Gordon equation

I am delving into Quantum-Field Theory, and am stuck trying to work out how to compute the energy of a soliton solution to the Sine-Gordon equation in 1-1 spacetime. I start with the Lagrangian ...
Thomas Russell's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
370 views

Are there general Soliton-Instanton correspondence?

In the symmetric double well potential, the solutions in $1+1$ static and real $\varphi^4$ theory, are solitons. However, we know that such theories are "dual" to one dimensional real $\varphi^4$ ...
TMS's user avatar
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Systems with 'many' conserved quantities

The classical justification for the microcanonical ensemble relies on the fact that most many-body systems have just a 'small' (typically finite) number of conserved quantities (i.e. they violate ...
TLDR's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Can massive particles be seen as soliton solutions?

I wonder if the common relativistic wave equations contain a sort of soliton solutions, which might be considered as particle localisations.
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4 votes
0 answers
84 views

Toda lattice solution for different algebras

It is well-known that Toda systems (Toda field theory) can possess different algebraic structure based on Cartan Matrix in the Hamiltonian's potential. But all solutions I have seen were written only ...
newt's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
231 views

Boundary condition for solitons in 1+1 dimensions to have finite energy

Suppose a classical field configuration of a real scalar field $\phi(x,t)$, in $1+1$ dimensions, has the energy $$E[\phi]=\int\limits_{-\infty}^{+\infty} dx\, \left[\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{\partial\phi}...
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1 answer
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Vacuum Manifold of an $SU(2)$ Theory

I am reading Coleman's book "Aspects of Symmetry", specifically chapter 6 "Classical Lumps and their Quantum Descendants". He gives an Example 5 p. 209 for the topological solutions for an $SU(2)$ ...
Jropp's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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How is the velocity of a soliton defined?

The equation of motion of a real scalar field $\phi(x,t)$ in 1+1 dimension in an arbitrary potential $V(\phi)$ is given by $$\frac{\partial^2\phi}{\partial t^2}-\frac{\partial^2\phi}{\partial x^2}+\...
SRS's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
548 views

Describing travelling waves carrying energy from one point to another

A simple harmonic wave in one-dimension (for simplicity) $y(x,t)=A\sin(\omega t-kx)$ in a medium is often presented as an example of a travelling wave. But such a plane wave is infinitely extended ...
SRS's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is the definition of soliton?

What is the definition of soliton? I've encountered this name in different situations like when the topic discussed is about QFT, fluid dynamics or optics, but I cannot find a general definition. I've ...
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