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We analyse two issues that arise in the context of (matrix) string theories in plane wave backgrounds, namely (1) the use of Brinkmann- versus Rosen-variables in the quantum theory for general plane waves (which we settle conclusively in…
The presence of fields with negative mass-squared typically leads to some form of instability in standard field theories. The observation that, at least in the light-cone gauge, strings propagating in plane wave spacetimes can have…
We study a class of time dependent solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations which are plane waves with weak null singularities. This singularity is weak in the sense that though the tidal forces diverge at the singularity, the rate of…
The infrared singularities of scattering amplitudes have historically contributed to much development in understanding fundamental structures in physics. However, the fate of the leading soft singularities of amplitudes in non-trivial…
We consider the stability of spatially homogeneous plane-wave spacetimes. We carry out a full analysis for plane-wave spacetimes in (4+1) dimensions, and find there are two cases to consider; what we call non-exceptional and exceptional. In…
In this paper, we study the stability and instability of plane wave solutions to semilinear systems of wave equations satisfying the null condition. We identify a condition which allows us to prove the global nonlinear asymptotic stability…
Gravitational theories with fixed background fields break diffeomorphism invariance. This breaking can be spontaneous or explicit. A brief summary of the main consequences of these types of breaking is presented.
Coherent structures, such as solitary waves, appear in many physical problems, including fluid mechanics, optics, quantum physics, and plasma physics. A less studied setting is found in geophysics, where highly viscous fluids couple to…
We obtain the most general matrix criterion for stability and instability of multi-component solitary waves considering a system of $N$ incoherently coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations. Soliton stability is studied as a constrained…
In this paper we establish a rigorous spectral stability analysis for solitary waves associated to a generalized fractional Benjamin-Bona-Mahony type equation. Besides the well known smooth and positive solitary wave with large wave speed,…
We study the stability of the exterior of Type I and Type II singularity formation for the wave maps equation in $\mathbb{R}^{d+1}$ with $d\geq2$ and the power nonlinear wave equation in $\mathbb{R}^{d+1}$ with $d\geq3$:Given characteristic…
Plane-wave backgrounds play a special role in strong-field QED as examples of a non-trivial field configuration that remains simple enough to be treated analytically whilst still leading to rich physical consequences. Although great…
A nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with repulsive (defocusing) nonlinearity is considered. As an example, a system with a spatially varying coefficient of the nonlinear term is studied. The nonlinearity is chosen to be repelling except on a…
We analyze the coset model $(E_2^c \ti E_2^c)/E_2^c$ and construct a class of exact string vacua which describe plane gravitational waves and their duals, generalizing the plane wave background found by Nappi and Witten. In particular, the…
We analyze the wave equation in families of pp-wave geometries developing strong localized scale-invariant singularities in certain limits. For both cases of well-localized pp-waves and the so-called null-cosmologies, we observe an…
We prove an abstract instability result for an eigenvalue problem with parameter. We apply this criterion to show the transverse linear instability of solitary waves on various examples from mathematical physics.
The relationship between stable holomorphic vector bundles on a compact complex surface and the same such objects on a blowup of the surface is investigated, where "stability" is with respect to a Gauduchon metric on the surface and…
We investigate strongly nonlinear stationary gravity waves which experience refraction due to a thin vertical shear layer of horizontal background wind. The velocity amplitude of the waves is of the same order of magnitude as the background…
As an application of the Cartan invariants obtained using the Karlhede algorithm, we study a simple subclass of the PP-wave spacetimes, the gravitational plane waves. We provide an invariant classification of these spacetimes and then study…
An important step in using observations of gravitational waves from bounded sources is to relate the observed waveforms far away from a source to the local dynamics and environment of the source. To isolate and identify different features…