The versatile soliton. Transl. from the Russian (Q4514939)

This engaging book is an excellent introduction into the wonderful world of soliton mechanics. The main purpose of this work is to show some interesting phenomena taking simple physical models and elementary mathematical background, the history, origin properties and various applications of solitary waves. The book consists of eight chapters, three appendices and a glossary of names. A number of interesting graphs and pictures illustrate interesting phenomena in the physics of solitons. Three main parts exist. The first part is devoted to the early history of soliton mechanics. The soliton, a solitary wave impulse preserving its shape and strikingly similar to a particle, is one of the most fascinating and beautiful phenomena in nonlinear mechanics. The concept of the soliton is traced from the beginning of the last century to modern times. The second part is devoted to nonlinear oscillations and waves. The so-called Frenkel-Kontorova soliton, which is simpler than the Russel or Korteweg-de Vries soliton is discussed. Recent applications in biology, oceanography, solid state physics, electronics, elementary particle physics, and cosmology are described. The third part is devoted to the presence and future of soliton theory. Kaluza's theory, Yang-Mills fields and the by Skyrme invented special solitons called skyrmions are discussed as well.