English

Variational principle for non-linear wave propagation in dissipative systems

Pattern Formation and Solitons 2016-02-24 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

The dynamics of many natural systems is dominated by non-linear waves propagating through the medium. We show that the dynamics of non-linear wave fronts with positive surface tension can be formulated as a gradient system. The variational potential is simply given by a linear combination of the occupied volume and surface area of the wave front, and changes monotonically in time. Finally, we demonstrate that vortex filaments can be written as a gradient system only if their binormal velocity component vanishes, which occurs in chemical system with equal diffusion of reactants.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1508.06423,
  title  = {Variational principle for non-linear wave propagation in dissipative systems},
  author = {Hans Dierckx and Henri Verschelde},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.06423},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T10:41:47.672Z