Phase Evolution of the Time- and Space-Like Peregrine Breather in a Laboratory

Coherent wave groups are not only characterized by the intrinsic shape of the wave packet, but also by the underlying phase evolution during the propagation. Exact deterministic formulations of hydrodynamic or electromagnetic coherent wave groups can be obtained by solving the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE). When considering the NLSE, there are two asymptotically equivalent formulations, which can be used to describe the wave dynamics: the time- or space-like NLSE. These differences have been theoretically elaborated upon in the 2016 work of Chabchoub and Grimshaw. In this paper, we address fundamental characteristic differences beyond the shape of wave envelope, which arise in the phase evolution. We use the Peregrine breather as a referenced wave envelope model, whose dynamics is created and tracked in a wave flume using two boundary conditions, namely as defined by the time- and space-like NLSE. It is shown that whichever of the two boundary conditions is used, the corresponding local shape of wave localization is very close and almost identical during the evolution; however, the respective local phase evolution is different. The phase dynamics follows the prediction from the respective NLSE framework adopted in each case.

The Peregrine Breather on the Zero-Background Limit as the Two-Soliton Degenerate Solution: An Experimental Study

Solitons are coherent structures that describe the nonlinear evolution of wave localizations in hydrodynamics, optics, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensates. While the Peregrine breather is known to amplify a single localized perturbation of a carrier wave of finite amplitude by a factor of three, there is a counterpart solution on zero background known as the degenerate two-soliton which also leads to high amplitude maxima. In this study, we report several observations of such multi-soliton with doubly-localized peaks in a water wave flume. The data collected in this experiment confirm the distinctive attainment of wave amplification by a factor of two in good agreement with the dynamics of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation solution. Advanced numerical simulations solving the problem of nonlinear free water surface boundary conditions of an ideal fluid quantify the physical limitations of the degenerate two-soliton in hydrodynamics.

Transformation of the Peregrine Breather Into Gray Solitons on a Vertically Sheared Current

In this Brief Research Report, we show, within the framework of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in deep water and in the presence of vorticity (vor-NLS), that the Peregrine breather traveling at the free surface of a shear current of slowly varying vorticity may transform into gray solitons.

A Peregrine Soliton-Like Structure That Has Nothing to Deal With a Peregrine Breather

We report on experimental results where a temporal intensity profile presenting some of the main signatures of the Peregrine soliton (PS) is observed. However, the emergence of a highly peaked structure over a continuous background in a normally dispersive fiber cannot be linked to any PS dynamics and is mainly ascribed to the impact of Brillouin backscattering.

Two-dimensional modulation instability of wind waves

It is widely known that deep-water waves are modulationally unstable and that this can be modelled by a nonlinear Schrödinger equation. In this paper, we extend the previous studies of the effect of wind forcing on this instability to water waves in finite depth and in two horizontal space dimensions. The principal finding is that the instability is enhanced and becomes super-exponential and that the domain of instability in the modulation wavenumber space is enlarged. Since the outcome of modulation instability is expected to be the generation of rogue waves, represented within the framework of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation as a Peregrine breather, we also examine the effect of wind forcing on a Peregrine breather. We find that the breather amplitude will grow at twice the rate of a linear instability.

Numerical Simulations of Peregrine Breathers Using a Spectral Element Model

Breather solutions to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation have been put forward as a possible prototype for rouge waves and have been studied both experimentally and numerically. In the present study, we perform high resolution simulations of the evolution of Peregrine breathers in finite depth using a fully nonlinear potential flow spectral element model. The spectral element model can accurately handle very steep waves as illustrated by modelling solitary waves up to limiting steepness. The analytic breather solution is introduced through relaxation zones. The numerical solution obtained by the spectral element model is shown to compare in large to the analytic solution as well as to CFD simulations of a Peregrine breather in finite depth presented in literature. We present simulations of breathers over variable bathymetry and 3D simulations of a breather impinging on a mono-pile.