Nonlinear Waves, Solitons and Chaos

This is the only book at this level to embrace a universal approach to three major developments in classical physics, namely nonlinear waves, solitons and chaos. A comprehensive treatment of instabilities is followed by a study of the nonlinear structures arising from them. Examples of these are coherent entities like nonlinear waves and solitons, as well as the incoherent structures associated with chaos. The first part of the book is a self-contained introduction to general topics associated with nonlinear physics, and would be accessible to final-year undergraduates and beginning postgraduate students. The remainder of the book, for example the treatment of cylindrical solitons, is more advanced and will have a wide appeal to specialists in a number of branches of physics. Each chapter concludes with a set of problems. This very topical text could be used by students taking courses in nonlinear aspects of physics. In general, it will be of value to final-year undergraduates and beginning graduate students studying fluid dynamics, plasma physics and applied mathematics.