Damped nonlinear Schrödinger equation

Abstract

High frequency electrostatic plasma oscillations described by the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the presence of damping, collisional or Landau, are considered. At early times, Landau damping of an initial soliton profile results in a broader, but smaller amplitude soliton, while collisional damping reduces the soliton size everywhere; soliton speeds at early times are unchanged by either kind of damping. For collisional damping, soliton speeds are unchanged for all time.