ADIABATIC PERTURBATIONS OF SOLITONS AND SHOCK-WAVES

We present a simple mechanical model, relevant to first order with respect to the perturbation, which accounts for plateau-tail generations and adiabatic dampings or growths of basic nonlinear solitary waves: the Korteweg de Vries, nonlinear SchrÖ;dinger, and Burgers shock wave. This theory gives most qualitative and quantitative properties of the plateau, i.e., its large width (which may extend over the mean free path of the pulse itself), its amplitude and its shape. © 1979 IOP Publishing Ltd.