On water waves at Froude number slightly higher than one and Bond number less than 1/3 (Q1194091): Difference between revisions

In a recent paper by \textit{C. J. Amick} and \textit{K. Kirchgässner} [Dynamical problems in continuum physics, Proc. Workshop IMA, 1-22 (1987; Zbl 0631.76017)] a model problem was proposed in connection with the existence of solitary waves under surface tension. The formulation is as follows: consider solutions \(y(x)\), \(x\in(-\infty,\infty)\) of the equation \(\varepsilon^ 2{d^ 4 y\over dx^ 4}+{d^ 2 y\over dx^ 2}=y-y^ 2\), where \(\varepsilon^ 2\) is a small parameter. Do there exist non-trivial solutions which satisfy \(y(x)\to 0\) as \(| x|\to\infty\)? The relevance of above problem to water waves is examined. Starting from Kirchgässner's general equations, the range of Bond numbers and Froude numbers is established for which these reduce to above model problem, generalized by adding terms of order \(\varepsilon^ 2\) on the r.h.s.. It is established that there exists a solution of the model equation which over very large distances looks like a solitary wave. It is considered questionable whether the difference between solitary waves and such quasi-solitary ones will ever be observed in either experiment or numerical simulation.