Interactions of Solitary Waves –A Perturbation Approach to Nonlinear Systems–

Abstract

An approximate method of studying interactions between two solitary waves which propagate in opposite directions is presented. In the first approximation, the solution is described by s superposition of two solitary waves which are governed by their respective Korteveg-de Vries equation. The second order approximation gives a small correction where the two waves overlap one another. The method is extended to the system, in which there exist n "quasi-simple" waves (the simple waves under the effects of higher derivative terms, such as dispersions of dissipations). The possibility that n "quasi-simple" waves can be superposed to describe nonlinear systems is studied. Applications to ion acoustic waves in collisionless plasmas and shallow water waves are discussed.