This book brings together a comprehensive account of major developments in the theory and applications of nonlinear dispersive waves, nonlinear water waves, KdV and nonlinear Schrodinger equations, Davey-Stewartson equation, Benjamin-Ono equation and nonlinear instability phenomena. In order to give the book a wider readership, chapters have been written by internationally known researchers who have made significant contributions to nonlinear waves and nonlinear instability. This volume will be invaluable to applied mathematicians, physicists, geophysicists, oceanographers, engineering scientists, and to anyone interested in nonlinear dynamics.

This self-contained treatment covers all aspects of nonlinear dynamics, from fundamentals to recent developments, in a unified and comprehensive way. Numerous examples and exercises will help the student to assimilate and apply the techniques presented.

"Starting only with a basic knowledge of graduate real analysis and Fourier analysis, the text first presents basic nonlinear tools such as the bootstrap method and perturbation theory in the simpler context of nonlinear ODE, then introduces the harmonic analysis and geometric tools used to control linear dispersive PDE. These methods are then combined to study four model nonlinear dispersive equations. Through extensive exercises, diagrams, and informal discussion, the book gives a rigorous theoretical treatment of the material, the real-world intuition and heuristics that underlie the subject, as well as mentioning connections with other areas of PDE, harmonic analysis, and dynamical systems.".

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. The mathematical principles are presented along with examples of specific cases in communications and specific physical fields, including flood waves in rivers, waves in glaciers, traffic flow, sonic booms, blast waves, and ocean waves from storms.

The field of nonlinear dispersive waves has developed enormously since the work of Stokes, Boussinesq and Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) in the nineteenth century. In the 1960s, researchers developed effective asymptotic methods for deriving nonlinear wave equations, such as the KdV equation, governing a broad class of physical phenomena that admit special solutions including those commonly known as solitons. This book describes the underlying approximation techniques and methods for finding solutions to these and other equations. The concepts and methods covered include wave dispersion, asymptotic analysis, perturbation theory, the method of multiple scales, deep and shallow water waves, nonlinear optics including fiber optic communications, mode-locked lasers and dispersion-managed wave phenomena. Most chapters feature exercise sets, making the book suitable for advanced courses or for self-directed learning. Graduate students and researchers will find this an excellent entry to a thriving area at the intersection of applied mathematics, engineering and physical science.

Although the mathematical theory of nonlinear waves and solitons has made great progress, its applications to concrete physical problems are rather poor, especially when compared with the classical theory of linear dispersive waves and nonlinear fluid motion. The Whitham method, which describes the combining action of the dispersive and nonlinear effects as modulations of periodic waves, is not widely used by applied mathematicians and physicists, though it provides a direct and natural way to treat various problems in nonlinear wave theory. Therefore it is topical to describe recent developments of the Whitham theory in a clear and simple form suitable for applications in various branches of physics.This book develops the techniques of the theory of nonlinear periodic waves at elementary level and in great pedagogical detail. It provides an introduction to a Whitham's theory of modulation in a form suitable for applications. The exposition is based on a thorough analysis of representative examples taken from fluid mechanics, nonlinear optics and plasma physics rather than on the formulation and study of a mathematical theory. Much attention is paid to physical motivations of the mathematical methods developed in the book. The main applications considered include the theory of collisionless shock waves in dispersive systems and the nonlinear theory of soliton formation in modulationally unstable systems. Exercises are provided to amplify the discussion of important topics such as singular perturbation theory, Riemann invariants, the finite gap integration method, and Whitham equations and their solutions.

Nonlinear Waves in Integrable and Nonintegrable Systems presents cutting-edge developments in the theory and experiments of nonlinear waves. Its comprehensive coverage of analytical and numerical methods for nonintegrable systems is the first of its kind. This book is intended for researchers and graduate students working in applied mathematics and various physical subjects where nonlinear wave phenomena arise (such as nonlinear optics, Bose-Einstein condensates, and fluid dynamics).