Symmetry breaking of spatial Kerr solitons in fractional dimension

Pengfei Li, Boris A. Malomed and Dumitru Mihalache

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 2020, vol. 132, issue C

Abstract: We study symmetry breaking of solitons in the framework of a nonlinear fractional Schrödinger equation (NLFSE), characterized by its Lévy index, with cubic nonlinearity and a symmetric double-well potential. Asymmetric, symmetric, and antisymmetric soliton solutions are found, with stable asymmetric soliton solutions emerging from unstable symmetric and antisymmetric ones by way of symmetry-breaking bifurcations. Two different bifurcation scenarios are possible. First, symmetric soliton solutions undergo a symmetry-breaking bifurcation of the pitchfork type, which gives rise to a branch of asymmetric solitons, under the action of the self-focusing nonlinearity. Second, a family of asymmetric solutions branches off from antisymmetric states in the case of self-defocusing nonlinearity through a bifurcation of an inverted-pitchfork type. Systematic numerical analysis demonstrates that increase of the Lévy index leads to shrinkage or expansion of the symmetry-breaking region, depending on parameters of the double-well potential. Stability of the soliton solutions is explored following the variation of the Lévy index, and the results are confirmed by direct numerical simulations.

Keywords: Symmetry breaking; Nonlinear fractional Schrödinger equation; Spatial soliton (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:132:y:2020:i:c:s0960077920300011

DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2020.109602

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