List of Portraits
Preface
Part I. Different Classes of Solitons: Introduction
1. Nontopological solitons: the Korteweg-de Vries equation
2. Topological soltitons: sine-Gordon equation
3. Envelope solitons and nonlinear localisation: the nonlinear Schrödinger equation
4. The modelling process: ion acoustic waves in a plasma
Part II. Mathematical Methods for the Study of Solitons: Introduction
5. Linearisation around the soliton solution
6. Collective coordinate method
7. The inverse-scattering transform
Part III. Examples in Solid State and Atomic Physics: Introduction
8. The Ferm-Pasta-Ulam problem
9. A simple model for dislocations in crystals
10. Ferroelectric domain walls
11. Incommensurate phases
12. Solitons in magnetic systems
13. Solitons in Conducting polymers
14. Solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates
Part IV. Nonlinear Excitations in Biological Molecules: Introduction
15. Energy localisation and transfer in proteins
16. Nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics of DNA
Conclusion: Physical solitons: do they exist?
Part V. Appendices: A. Derivation of the KdV equation for surface hydrodynamic waves
B. Mechanics of a continuous medium
C. Coherent states of an harmonic oscillator
References
Index.
