Nonlinear Waves

Now in an accessible paperback edition, this classic work is just as relevant as when it first appeared in 1974, due to the increased use of nonlinear waves. It covers the behavior of waves in two parts, with the first part addressing hyperbolic waves and the second addressing dispersive waves.

Since 1972 the Schools on Nonlinear Physics in Gorky have been a meeting place for Soviet scientists working in this field. Instead of producing for the first time English proceedings it has been decided to present a good cross section of nonlinear physics in the USSR. Thus the participants at the last School were invited to provide English reviews and research papers for these two volumes (which in the years to come will be followed by the proceedings of forthcoming schools). The first volume starts with a historical overview of nonlinear dynamics from Poincaré to the present day and touches topics like attractors, nonlinear oscillators and waves, turbulence, pattern formation, and dynamics of structures in nonequilibrium dissipative media. It then deals with structures, bistabilities, instabilities, chaos, dynamics of defects in 1d systems, self-organizations, solitons, spatio-temporal structures and wave collapse in optical systems, lasers, plasmas, reaction-diffusion systems and solids.

The book details a few of the novel methods developed in the last few years for studying various aspects of nonlinear wave systems. The introductory chapter provides a general overview, thematically linking the objects described in the book.