Broader universality of rogue waves of infinite order (Q2140122)

The authors consider the nonlinear Schrödinger equation and a particular solution of it, the so-called rogue wave (also known as the Peregrine breather). This is a spatially and temporally localized solution, which corresponds to relatively large excitation with amplitude significantly (at least three or four times) larger than its background waves. The original interest and importance of such solution is related to waves propagation in the ocean, but also arises in other physical models, as for example in optical systems, fluid dynamics, Bose-Einstein condensates, and even in the study of financial markets. The authors formulate a number of related Riemann-Hilbert problems: first to find a family of background solutions, which are then used as ``seed'' to iteratively generate a rogue-type wave for each \(n\). These solutions are subsequently shown to grow proportionally to \(n\) with respect to the background field. The corresponding Lax operators are also found for each \(n\), and many other properties and asymptotic behaviour of the solutions are formulated. Detailed proofs of the results are provided.