Modulated Wavetrains in Dispersive Hydrodynamics
This talk will be followed by an informal lunch with APPM faculty and graduate students.
Mark Hoefer
Department of Mathematics, North Carolina State University
Date and time:
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - 12:15pm
Location:
ECCR 257
Abstract:
Solitary waves and small amplitude dispersive radiation are important solution components of nonlinear wave problems. A dispersive shock wave (DSW) represents the combination of solitary and dispersive waves into one coherent, expanding modulated wavetrain. The generation of DSWs represents a universal mechanism to resolve hydrodynamic singularities in dispersive media. Physical manifestations include undular bores on shallow water and in the atmosphere, nonlinear diffraction patterns in optics and ultracold atoms. This talk will focus on the dispersive hydrodynamics associated with interfacial waves of viscous fluid conduits. The derivation of an interfacial wave equation, modulation theory for DSWs, and experimental observations will be presented. It will be argued that this system is particularly well-suited to the careful, laboratory study of universal dispersive hydrodynamics.