Numerical inverse spectral transform for the periodic sine-Gordon equation: Theta function solutions and their linearized stability (Q805193)

The explicit computation of exact oscillatory solutions of the completely integrable sine-Gordon partial differential equation is discussed. The numerical procedure is based on the inverse spectral solution of the sine-Gordon equation. Exact theta-function solutions, the Floquet spectrum of x-periodic solutions, the labelling of linearized instabilities of N-phase solutions in terms of spectral data and the linearized growth rate in each unstable mode are computed. The associated surfaces are displayed to illustrate a variety of spatial and dynamical phenomena in the oscillatory solution space of this integrable system.