Systems driven far from thermodynamic equilibrium can create dissipative structures through the spontaneous breaking of symmetries. A particularly fascinating feature of these pattern-forming systems is their tendency to produce spatially confined states. These localized wave packets can exist as propagating entities through space and/or time. Various examples of such systems will be dealt with in this book, including localized states in fluids, chemical reactions on surfaces, neural networks, optical systems, granular systems, population models, and Bose-Einstein condensates.This book should appeal to all physicists, mathematicians and electrical engineers interested in localization in far-from-equilibrium systems. The authors - all recognized experts in their fields - strive to achieve a balance between theoretical and experimental considerations thereby giving an overview of fascinating physical principles, their manifestations in diverse systems, and the novel technical applications on the horizon.
Localized States in Physics: Solitons and Patterns
Orazio Descalzi • Marcel Clerc • Stefania Residori Gaetano Assanto Editors
Localized States in Physics: Solitons and Patterns
Editors Orazio Descalzi Universidad de los Andes Facultad de Ingeniería y Cs. Aplicadas Av. San Carlos de Apoquindo 2200 Las Condes Santiago Chile
[email protected] Stefania Residori Institut Non-linéaire de Nice route de Lucioles 1361 06560 Valbonne France
[email protected]
Marcel Clerc Universidad de Chile Fac. de Cs. Físicas y Mat. Depto. de Física Casilla 487 - 3 Santiago Chile
[email protected] Gaetano Assanto University Roma Tre Nonlinear Optics and OptoElectronics Lab Via della Vasca Navale 84 00146 Roma Italy
[email protected]
ISBN 978-3-642-16548-1 e-ISBN 978-3-642-16549-8 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-16549-8 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: eStudio Calamar S.L. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
Physical systems driven far from thermodynamic equilibrium can give rise to a variety of dissipative spatial structures through spontaneous breaking of symmetries. A fascinating feature of these pattern-forming systems is their tendency to originate spatially confined states. Such localized states can exist as wave packets or propagating entities through space and/or time. Observed in many differ