We study the wave breaking mechanism for the weakly dispersive defocusing nonlinear Schroedinger (NLS) equation with a constant phase dark initial datum that contains a vacuum point at the origin. We prove by means of the exact solution to the initia
l value problem that, in the dispersionless limit, the vacuum point is preserved by the dynamics until breaking occurs at a finite critical time. In particular, both Riemann invariants experience a simultaneous breaking at the origin. Although the initial vacuum point is no longer preserved in the presence of a finite dispersion, the critical behaviour manifests itself through an abrupt transition occurring around the breaking time.
We derive a class of equations of state for a multi-phase thermodynamic system associated with a finite set of order parameters that satisfy an integrable system of hydrodynamic type. As particular examples, we discuss one-phase systems such as the v
an der Waals gas and the effective molecular field model. The case of N-phase systems is also discussed in detail in connection with entropies depending on the order parameter according to Tsallis composition rule.
A thermodynamic phase transition denotes a drastic change of state of a physical system due to a continuous change of thermodynamic variables, as for instance pressure and temperature. The classical van der Waals equation of state is the simplest mod
el that predicts the occurrence of a critical point associated with the gas-liquid phase transition. Nevertheless, below the critical temperature, theoretical predictions of the van der Waals theory significantly depart from the observed physical behaviour. We develop a novel approach to classical thermodynamics based on the solution of Maxwell relations for a generalised family of nonlocal entropy functions. This theory provides an exact mathematical description of discontinuities of the order parameter within the phase transition region, it explains the universal form of the equations of state and the occurrence of triple points in terms of the dynamics of nonlinear shock wave fronts.
We show that under rather general assumptions on the form of the entropy function, the energy balance equation for a system in thermodynamic equilibrium is equivalent to a set of nonlinear equations of hydrodynamic type. This set of equations is inte
grable via the method of the characteristics and it provides the equation of state for the gas. The shock wave catastrophe set identifies the phase transition. A family of explicitly solvable models of non-hydrodynamic type such as the classical plasma and the ideal Bose gas are also discussed.
Vortices are screw phase dislocations associated with helicoidal wave-fronts. In nonlinear optics, vortices arise as singular solutions to the phase-intensity equations of geometric optics. They exist for a general class of nonlinear response functio
ns. In this sense, vortices possess a universal character. Analysis of geometric optics equations on the hodograph plane leads to deformed vortex type solutions that are sensitive to the form of the nonlinearity. The case of a Kerr type nonlinear response is discussed as a specific example.
