The analytical evolution of NLS solitons due to the numerical discretization error

Abstract

Soliton perturbation theory is used to obtain analytical solutions describing solitary wave tails or shelves, due to numerical discretization error, for soliton solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Two important implicit numerical schemes for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, with second-order temporal and spatial discretization errors, are considered. These are the CrankNicolson scheme and a scheme, due to Taha [1], based on the inverse scattering transform. The first-order correction for the solitary wave tail, or shelf, is in integral form and an explicit expression is found for large time. The shelf decays slowly, at a rate of t?1/2 , which is characteristic of the nonlinea..