Mechanics Research Communications 38 (2011) 341349

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Mechanics Research Communications

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Historical review

Solitons in elastic solids (19382010)

Grard A. Maugin
Universit Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6, Institut Jean Le Rond dAlembert, Case 162, Tour 55, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 28 April 2011
Dedicated to the memories of Martin D.
Kruskal (19252006) and Arnold M.
Kosevich (19282006).

a b s t r a c t
Solitons in solids are much less studied than in uids or in optics although the seminal FermiPastaUlam
numerical experiment and its interpretation by Kruskal et al. indeed belong to this framework. An inquisitive observer and then an active participant for almost forty years, the author presents here the various
developments that took place over this period in the solid mechanics and dynamics of lattices and/or
structural members, as also the original results that followed thereby. Most of the solutions obtained
deviate from standard ones as the physical systems deduced from rst principles generally are not exactly
integrable. The emphasis is placed on the peculiarities of the solutions in terms of analytical expressions,
their interpretation, and their eventual representation as quasi-particles in steady (inertial) or accelerated
motion.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7.

A personalized introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The early introduction of solitons in deformable solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Going to solitons in deformable solids via the sine-Gordon equation: ferroc states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The BoussinesqKdV paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Surface solitons on deformable structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Strange quasi-particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.
Generalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.
Sine-Gordon systems and their generalizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3.
Generalized Zakharov systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.4.
BoussinesqKdV systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. A personalized introduction
If you were a student in a blend of applied mathematics
and aeronautical sciences in the 1950s1960s, then your basic
bibliographical source in English would have certainly been the
celebrated treatise by Courant and Friedrichs (1948) or one of its
imitations or plagiarisms. Of necessity, hyperbolic systems and
shock waves would have been your favourite subjects. Of course
there were recent developments and complications of the subject
matter such as supersonics and hypersonics, detached curved shock
waves, and ows past denitely new objects such as aircraft delta
wings and the introduction of rareed gas dynamics in aeronautics.
More to our point in this contribution was indeed the consid-

E-mail address: gerard.maugin@upmc.fr

0093-6413/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mechrescom.2011.04.009

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eration of magneto-hydro- and magneto-gas-dynamics, and the

accompanying search for stable plasma congurations, and their
applications to astrophysics and the conception of plasma accelerators. The Matterhorn project and Princeton University were ideal
programs and place to study along these new lines of research.
For many students the new notion in wave studies was that of
dispersion while they had already become very much familiar with
that of nonlinearity. But there was a eld of uid mechanics where
dispersion was an important, if not the most important, notion,
that of water waves (cf. Stoker, 1957). Late 19th century luminaries
such as Rayleigh, Boussinesq, and others had been active in this
eld. Some of these authors, as well as Korteweg and de Vries in
the Netherlands, were not long before providing a mathematical
explanation to a strange wavelike phenomenon noticed by a
Scottish scientist John Scott-Russell some fty years before,
the so-called great wave that could propagate over large distances

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G.A. Maugin / Mechanics Research Communications 38 (2011) 341349

without sensible alteration in its essential properties, amplitude

and speed. As a matter of fact, an appropriate relationship between
these last two due to a strict compensation between the effects
of nonlinearity (steepening the wave) and dispersion (spreading
the signal), was shown to be responsible for the effect, that was
to remain a scientic curiosity for more than a half century. Two
now celebrated equations were involved, the Boussinesq (BO)
equation and the Kortewegde Vries (KdV) equation. Now back to
Princeton in the 1960s. A group of scientists prominently among
them, Martin D. Kruskal paid an almost undue attention to some
wavelike phenomena in conjunction with their plasma studies
and pioneering numerical experiments carried in Los Alamos
in the 1950s (the famous FermiPastaUlam experiment). They
noticed soon with the KdV equation (a one-directional equation
or evolution equation associated with the true wave equation
of Boussinesq) that the strange propagating shape observed
by Scott-Russell shared a property in common with particles in
elastic interactions: during such an interaction head-on collision,
overtaking another fellow they conserved their individuality
but for a change of phase. This particle-like property led to the
coinage of solitons by the facetious M.D. Kruskal and friends
in 1965 (Zabusky and Kruskal, 1965). In a few years they found
the way to generate analytically these muliple-soliton solutions
(the inverse-scattering method; Gardner et al., 1967), and other
remarkable nonlinear and dispersive partial differential equations
were found to exhibit solutions of the same kind. It was no longer
possible to be satised with pure hyperbolic systems. Recommended books on the physics and mathematics of soliton theory
are by Drazin and Johnson (1989), Infeld and Rowlands (1990),
Newell (1985), and Ablowitz and Segur (1981).
[It is in these circumstances that the author participated in his
rst international conference at Princeton in October 1968, sitting
next to Gerald B. Whitham (from Caltech) who was to publish
soon an inuential book on hyperbolic and dispersive systems
(Whitham, 1974).] (I had in fact worked on a paper of this scientist for my memoir of D.E.A. at the University of Paris 6 in the
midst of the somewhat agitated May 1968, and I had been admitted to Whithams Department at Caltech, but I preferred Princeton,
a choice I never regretted.) One always recollects with some nostalgia the famous Applied Mathematics Colloquium organized by
Martin Kruskal every Friday afternoon, followed by a table-tennis
tournament in the Astronomy building, and working on the solutions of Martin Gardners problems from the Scientic American,
just to nish the working week in good spirits, while Mrs Kruskal
was busy with her origami. I was later to lecture two times at this
Colloquium. Anyway, most research on solitons at that period was
devoted to the elds of uid mechanics, optics, and plasma physics,
and to mathematical methods. I became at the time a specialist in
relativistic continuum mechanics (another inuence of the Princeton atmosphere) and a specialist in solid mechanics endowed with
a physical microstructure (the inuence of A.C. Eringen) such as in
certain electromagnetic bodies. Using this bias, I was to return to
solitons some ten years later, with one of my Ph.D. students, Jol
Pouget.
The ery Frenchman Gerard
Reacts to name-slights with en garde
For no insults more drastic
Than an onomastic
Crystal-elastic canard!
Martin D. Kruskal, co-inventor of the soliton and amateur of
limericks; Princeton, October 22, 1984
2. The early introduction of solitons in deformable solids
The mechanics of deformable solid bodies is always more complicated, if not more difcult, to deal with than that of uids. The

reason for this is multi-fold. But that may explain why nonlinear
waves in general, and solitons in particular, entered that eld after
some delay. One of the reasons was that in contrast with uid
mechanics many specialists of solid mechanics, although dealing
with difcult boundary-value problems, do not deal with nonlinearities. It is only with the consideration of physical nonlinearity
in crystals and the phenomenon of plasticity (due ultimately to
the presence of structural defects such as dislocations), that true
nonlinear problems started to appear. The crystalline aspect is tantamount to looking at a discrete description. But discreteness is
synonymous with dispersion since a characteristic length then is
necessarily involved. Along this line of thought one must recall
two remarkable works. One is by Frenkel and Kontorova (1938) in
Leningrad, when these authors conceived of a dislocation motion
as the strongly localized solution exhibited by a chain of mass
particles so-called atoms in lattice dynamics connected by
linear springs but placed in a periodically varying external eld
(a substrate or a foundation representing the action of neighbouring parallel chains). With appropriate normalization, and in a
continuum long-wave length limit, the relevant partial differential equation for an elastic displacement noted  reads (here the
characteristic speed is normalized to one)
2 
2 

sin  = 0,
2
t
x2

(2.1)

where both nonlinearity and dispersion are contained in the sin

term. This apparently innocuous equation was to have a remarkable
destiny. It is only now that we call it the sine-Gordon (SG) equation
by imitation with the KleinGordon (KG) linear equation of atomic
physics. Eq. (2.1) presents kink solutions that have a topological
nature: the amplitude of the solution (jump between the two values
on the two sides of the kink) is xed and the speed of propagation is
not analytically related to this amplitude. As a matter of fact, such
a (subsonic) solution exists even at rest (the relationship of (2.1)
with the nonlinear pendulum equation is obvious)! Later on most
of the popularity gained by an equation such as (2.1) was in the
domains of magnetism, superconductivity and so-called Josephson junctions, and the dynamics of molecular chains such as DNA
chains (Barone et al., 1971). However, remaining in defective crystal
physics, another fundamental step was taken due to the ingenuity
of Alfred Seeger in Stuttgart. In his very Diploma (Seeger, 1949)
and then in further papers (Seeger, 1955, 1979), the formidably
well-educated Seeger recognized in (2.1) an equivalent equation
from the differential geometrical theory of two-dimensional surfaces of constant negative curvature, the so-called Enneper equation
obtained by introducing characteristic coordinates ,  = x t as
2 
= sin .
 

(2.2)

What is remarkable with Seegers remark is that he knew that

Bcklund (1882) had devised analytical means to generate other
solutions if one knew one solution to (2.2), hence to (2.1). Accordingly, in modern jargon, we can generate multiple-soliton solutions
to (2.1) if we know a one-soliton solution! Not enough credit is
granted to Seeger for this beautiful uncovery. It was while visiting Seeger in Stuttgart that Wesolowski has shown that Eq. (2.1)
was also governing the torsion of elastic bars with a rectangular
cross section (Seeger and Wesolowski, 1981; Wesolowski, 1983).
Having devoted much work to the construction of continuum models of magneto-elastic and electro-elastic media such
as magnetostrictive elastic ferromagnets and piezoelectric and
electrostrictive elastic materials with the accompanying thorough
study of coupled linear bulk and surface waves with an emphasis on effects such as the resonance between modes of different
nature, I naturally became involved in the study of the dynamics
of domain walls. Through these walls one witnesses nite rota-

G.A. Maugin / Mechanics Research Communications 38 (2011) 341349

tion/precession of magnetic or electric dipoles. This, in the absence

of couplings with mechanical degrees of freedom, naturally leads to
the introduction of the sine-Gordon equation to describe the special
cases of transition through a wall, e.g., Bloch type (out of plane rotation around a direction orthogonal to the wall) and Nel types (in
plane rotation effected in a plane containing the direction orthogonal to the wall). The coupling of these orientational effects of walls
with the elastic properties of the relevant crystal was to bring me
back to soliton theory but in a eld not as much cultivated as uid
mechanics.
Here we must distinguish between three different kinds of situations:
(i) the sine-GordondAlembert system and the mechanics of ferroc states;
(ii) the BoussinesqKdV paradigm for purely mechanical effects;
(iii) the generalized nonlinear Schrdinger model (small amplitude
surface waves on solid structures).
These are going to be examined successively.
3. Going to solitons in deformable solids via the
sine-Gordon equation: ferroc states
Ferroc states are, by analogy with well known ferromagnetism,
states of matter where the usually considered effect may be present
without a cause. For example, a local magnetization can exist in a
small region of a ferromagnet while there is no applied magnetic
eld. Ferroelectricity, named by analogy with ferromagnetism, also
exhibits local permanent electric dipoles in the absence of applied
electric eld. Furthermore, there even exists ferro-elasticity in
materials exhibiting local spontaneous strains (Aizu, 1970). Here
we consider the rst two cases.
There is a natural tendency among applied mathematicians to
pass over or ignore the derivation from rst principles of basic equations to be considered as mathematical objects, their primary
interest. This last task may be a difcult one in continuum mechanics. Fortunately, W.F. Brown Jr, H.F. Tiersten and the author have
constructed in the 1960s1970s a sound phenomenological theory
of nitely deformable ferromagnets, from which one can deduce
in condence easily exploitable equations for nonlinear dispersive
wave propagation processes (see, e.g., Maugin, 1988). A typical system of partial differential equations obtained in the conguration
of so-called Nel walls in magnetoelastic ferromagnets reads as follows in an obvious notation for partial space and time derivatives
(Maugin and Miled, 1986a):
tt xx sin  = ux cos ,

utt cT2 uxx = (sin )x .

(3.1)

This couples, via magnetostriction (of coefcient ), the in-plane

rotation angle of magnetic spins  with the transverse elastic displacement u. Just like for Eq. (2.1) the essential nonlinearity and
dispersion are contained in the spin equation while the elastic
equation remains linear although coupled to the second equation. This has a drawback. While the uncoupled equation for 
is exactly integrable and exhibits true multiple soliton solutions,
the displacement equation has the pure standard wave nature and
will in fact destroy the exact integrability of the system, which
becomes then one example of such nonexactly integrable systems
justied by real physics. Kivshar and Malomed (1989) coined the
name of sine-GordondAlembert (SGdA) systems for systems such
as (3.1) and established a durable contact, and later co-operation
with the author. Pouget and the author introduced a similar system
in the physics of elastic ferroelectrics (Pouget and Maugin, 1984),
studied the multiple soliton solutions and the accompanying
wave radiation generated by the coupling with the displacement

343

wave equation (Pouget and Maugin, 1985a), and also the transient motion of such a wavelike phenomenon under the action of
an applied external eld (Pouget and Maugin, 1985b) by means
of a perturbation method applied to the canonical conservation
laws associated with that system. Later on, it was shown that
the mechanics of deformable bodies endowed with an internal
degree of freedom of the rotational type (so-called micropolar, oriented, or Cosserat continua) are likely to yield systems such as (3.1)
prone to developing close to soliton solutions, but still with some
generated radiations in the intercourse between several signals
(cf. Maugin and Miled, 1986b; Pouget and Maugin, 1989). More
problems including the effect of the application of an externally
alternating eld (Sayadi and Pouget, 1991) and the transition to
chaos (Sayadi and Pouget, 1992) have been expertly treated by
Sayadi and Pouget. Much more later, in collaboration with the
Kosevich group originally the Landau Institute from Kharkov
(Ukraine) who had already dealt at length with many aspects of the
sine-Gordon equation in ferromagnetism (see the book by these
authors; Kosevich et al., 1988), it was possible to show that one
can improve on both dispersion and nonlinearity of the system
based on the sine-Gordon equation (by adding appropriate new
terms) and still keep the essential solitonic properties, and creating thus new soliton complexes (Bogdan et al., 1999, 2001). It is
impossible to cite here the extremely rich bibliography about the
sine-Gordon equation and its generalizations (see Chapter 7 and
more particularly Section 7.8 in our book; Maugin, 1999).
4. The BoussinesqKdV paradigm
Eventually (see Section 6 below), system (3.1) could be viewed
as a two-degree of freedom elasticity system placed on a foundation (external force eld) affecting only the  degree. But this
is just for the commodity of some computations. What we want
to consider now are purely elastic systems. Nonlinearity can be
introduced via a potential of interactions (physical nonlinearities
in crystals). As to dispersion, the other necessary ingredient for
the existence of solitary waves, it can be introduced through different paths, all introducing one or several characteristic lengths,
e.g., discrete description (like in a lattice), object of nite thickness
(thin lm glued on top of a body, nite transverse size of a wave
guide) introduced in the system. We focus here on the rst case of
which the theory can be traced back to Boussinesq who obtained
the relevant bi-directional wave equation, not only for uids, but
also for elastic solids (Boussinesq, 1870). Then Korteweg and de
Vries (1895) derived the unidirectional version of the Boussinesq
equation which now bears their name (KdV equation). In modern
terms, the KdV equation is deduced by the method of reductive perturbations. All equations that are extensions of the BO and KdV
equations are said to belong to the Boussinesq paradigm of wave
propagation (Christov et al., 1996, 2007). The standard derivation
of the crystal Boussinesq equation from a discrete lattice is given in
many books (e.g., Kosevich, 1999; Maugin, 1999). In the appropriate
non-dimensionalization, it reads:
utt uxx ux uxx 2 uxxxx = 0,

(4.1)

where is a characteristic length and is a parameter of nonlinearity. A balance between these two effects favours the existence
of solitary-wave solutions. In the starting lattice the fourth-order
space derivative follows from the consideration of next-neighbours
interactions and not only the immediate neighbours responsible for
classic elasticity. Consideration of farther neighbours such as nextnext ones would yield a stiffer equation with higher order space
derivatives, e.g.,
utt uxx [F  (u) 2 uxx + uxxxx ]xx = 0,

(4.2)

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G.A. Maugin / Mechanics Research Communications 38 (2011) 341349

The same mathematical method applied to Eqs. (4.2)(4.6) will

yield generalizations of the KdV equations. However, only the original Eqs. (4.1) and (4.7) are exactly integrable in the sense of the
mathematical theory of solitons (as shown originally by Kruskal
and his co-workers), the others providing solitary wave solutions
which do produce some radiation in the course of interactions. This
shows how rare are the more physically based equations that are
true solitonic in their interaction behaviour.
Before concluding this section, several remarks are in order:

Fig. 1. Examples of Kawahara solitons (after Christov and Maugin).

where F(u) is at least a cubic in u. In some cases we can deduce an

equation of the type
utt uxx [F  (u) (1 utt 2 uxx )]xx = 0,

(4.3)

where a mixed space-time fourth order derivative can be present

yielding two types of dispersion, in the same way as the equation
for transverse vibrations of elastic beams does. The regularized longwave BO equation (Benjamin et al., 1972)
utt uxx [F  (u)]xx uttxx = 0,

(4.4)

belongs in the same class. We have also introduced what we called

the MaxwellRayleigh equation (Maugin, 1995)
utt uxx [F  (u)]xx (uxx utt )tt = 0.

(4.5)

This is an example of so-called double-dispersion equation with

two wave operators as obtained by Samsonov et al. in quasi-onedimensional elastic rods (Samsonov, 2001):
utt c12 uxx [F  (u)]xx + (utt c22 uxx )xx = 0.

(4.6)

Here the characteristic length comes from the nite cross section
of the rods.
The unidirectional version of the original Boussinesq equation
(4.1), i.e., the KdV equation, is deduced by the method of reductive
perturbations as:

vt + vvx + dvxxx = 0,

(4.7)

where d is a dispersion parameter.

(i) Among the most interesting ones from the point of view of
physics is Eq. (4.2), based on a nonconvex elasticity potential
presenting three minima (one austenite and two martensites of opposite shear angle). This allows the reproduction of
the various phase transitions observed between the phases
of such materials as martensitic alloys (Maugin and Cadet,
1991). This followed the static considerations of Falk (1983)
and the work of Pouget (1988).
(ii) A faithful numerical simulation of stiff partial differential
equations such as (4.2) requires special attention in devising
an appropriate nite-difference scheme. This question was
pondered by Christov and Maugin (1995a).
(iii) Generalized KdV equations and the evolution of soliton systems therein are analysed by various numerical techniques
in a number of papers by Salupere et al. (1994, 1996, 2001,
1997).
(iv) Inclusion of cubic terms in the elastic energy provides drastic
alterations as shown by Porubov and Maugin (2005, 2006,
2008). In particular, cubic nonlinearity is responsible for the
formation of so-called fat solitary waves.
(v) Two-dimensional (in space) problems of course become relatively complex. Equations for plates are obtained from
discrete equations for two-dimensional lattices (Collet, 1993;
Potapov et al., 2001) but exhibit a strong phenomenon
of localization, and a strong amplication accompanied by
depressions (Porubov et al., 2004; Porubov, 2003) (see also
Porubovs books (Porubov, 2003, 2009)). Localization and
instability of patterns were also studied by Pouget (1991) in
his 2D modeling of martensitic alloys.
(vi) In recent works, it was shown in co-operation with Eron Aero
(a pioneer in the generalized continuum mechanics of the
Cosserat type; Aero and Kuvshinskii, 1961) that media with
such an internal structure and elastic models issued from
a purely elastic theory with higher-order nonlinearity may
present localized solutions so that experiments may decide
on the really existing microstructure (Porubov et al., 2009).
(vii) Other generalizations include linear atomic chains accounting for both longitudinal and transverse elastic displacement

Fig. 2. Interaction of two counter propagating Kawahara solitons (after Christov et al., 2007).

G.A. Maugin / Mechanics Research Communications 38 (2011) 341349

345

Fig. 3. Examples of pterons and nanopterons (after Christov and Maugin).

(cf. Cadet, 1989; Kosevich, 1999) and diatomic chains

(Pnevmatikos et al., 1986); also truly nonlocal interactions
with an integral over space.
(viii) From the point of view of shapes, the most original ones
obtained are the self-similar propagating shapes solutions
of the system mentioned at (i) above (Christov and Maugin,
1995a), the Kawahara type of subsonic solutions for system
(4.2) see Fig. 1 of which the nonperfectly elastic interaction of two oppositely travelling shapes is shown in Fig. 2; and
supersonic weakly nonlocal oscillatory shapes with wings
therefore called pterons (Christov et al., 1996) and affectionately nanopterons when the wings are small enough
of which examples are shown in Fig. 3.
5. Surface solitons on deformable structures
We have been concerned by surface waves on solids for quite
a long time. It was therefore natural that we came to ponder the
problem of the existence of solitonic surface waves, in more vivid
words, surface solitons, on solids. Technologically, this was envisaged as soon as 1981 (Ewen et al., 1981, 1982). But there was no
deduction from rst principles of continuum mechanics or physics.
Some authors were satised with a direct application of a plausible
equation (Boussinesq or KdV) (Bataille and Lund, 1982; Cho and
Miyagawa, 1993) and this provided not even the beginning of a
proof. It seems that the rst good sign of a proof was given at a
Euromech Colloquium that we co-organized in Nottingham (UK) in
1987 (Parker and Maugin, 1988) in a contribution by Maradudin
(1988), but while providing the incentive for going further only
the part on the production of harmonics was correct. It was due
to the author and his Ph.D. student Hadouaj to give a mathematically correct proof of the existence of envelope mechanical solitons
propagating on top of a structure made of a nonlinear elastic substrate and of a glued superimposed slow-velocity thin lm. Their
proof was based on the following inuences and arguments:
the discovery of a new type of transverse surface shear wave by
Mozhaev (1989) due to the nonlinearity;
the concept of a material boundary having its own inertia and
elasticity (Murdoch, 1976);
the exploitation of the wave-kinematics formalism of Benney and
Newell (1967) in the study of localized waves (as a matter of fact
the rst, and almost unique, application of such a formalism in
2D problems of solid mechanics (Maugin and Hadouaj, 1989)).
the combination of a nonlinear elastic substrate (half space) and
an a slow linear-elastic superimposed layer of innitesimal

Fig. 4. Interaction of two counter propagating surface envelope solitons (gure

shows the square of the envelope at different depths with decreasing amplitude
with depth in the substrate (numerical simulation by Hadouaj and Maugin, 1992).

thickness (usually allowing for the existence of the Love-type of

surface waves).
The result was announced in 1989 (Maugin and Hadouaj, 1989)
and details of the proof given in 1991 (Maugin and Hadouaj,
1991). What was really proved was the existence of stable propagating bright (envelope-type) solitons, providing a mechanical
equivalent to the known optical solitons in optical bers; hence
the qualication of bright. These have complex small amplitude ultimately governed by a cubic Schrdinger (NLS) equation.
It is a true surface wave guided by the superimposed lm as
the amplitude decreases with depth in the substrate. This, as
well as the quasi-solitonic interactions of two counter propagating such waves were checked numerically (Hadouaj and Maugin,
1992) see Fig. 4. Furthermore, the weak coupling of this transverse horizontal shear wave with a Rayleigh wave component
(in the so-called sagittal plane) was established (Hadouaj et al.,
1992) yielding a system that we baptized Generalized Zakharov
system (GZS = coupling a NLS equation and a wave equation).
Such systems present interesting peculiarities: existence of a forbidden window in the range of speeds, new inelastic solitonic
process called perestroika of the solution in a dissipationinduced evolution, collision-induced fusion of subsonic solitons
(Hadouaj et al., 1991a,b).
After the just-mentioned works, a long series of works started
to appear being devoted to Rayleigh solitary waves and exploiting different mathematical techniques, but still for a conguration
involving a substrate and a glued lid. Among these works we
may mention those of Kovalev et al. (Eckl et al., 2001; Kovalev
et al., 2002a,b, 2003a) including the possibility of spin surface
waves (Kovalev et al., 2003b) and the consideration of incommensurate surfaces (Kovalev et al., 2004), and of Gorentsveig et al.
(1990) and Porubov and Maugin (2009). The latter have shown
that the obtained exact solutions for longitudinal motion allow
one to describe simultaneous propagation of tensile and compressive localized strain waves. Interactions between these waves give
rise to both the multi-hump and Mexican hat (central peak with
side depressions) localized wave structures. Recent reviews and
lecture notes on surface elastic solitons are those of the author
(Maugin, 2005; Maugin, 2007) see other references therein. Older
ones devoted generally to nonlinear surface waves but not necessarily solitons are by Maradudin and Mayer (1991) and Mayer
(1995).

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G.A. Maugin / Mechanics Research Communications 38 (2011) 341349

6. Strange quasi-particles

of P and H which compare more or less favourably with those of p

and E in (6.1) or (6.2) the velocity being known and xed since
the motion described by the rst of (6.3) is inertial.

6.1. Generalities
The notion of soliton itself calls for a more general introduction of the notion of quasi-particle. Indeed, if the elastic interaction
between solitons is so true then we must be able to associate a
particle in inertial motion with each of these strongly localized
objects. To do this one must establish a mechanics say of massive points that reproduces the same characteristics. A convenient
tool exists for that, at least for exactly integrable equations likely to
produce solitons. It happens that such systems of equations admit
an innite number of conservation laws (not to be mistaken for the
physical balance equations of continuum mechanics we started
with). These conservation laws in eld theory are related to the
existence of an innity of symmetries, so that Noethers celebrated
theorem (one conservation law for each symmetry) holds good
(cf. Fokas (Fokas, 1979)). In our dynamics these reect the existence of constants of motion. It happens that the construct yielding
such constants is greatly facilitated for us because all wave equations considered here are issued from elasticity (with or without a
microstructure), and elasticity is the paragon of eld theory when
written in the proper formalism (essentially nite strains where
we distinguish clearly between placement and spatial parameterization). We have discussed at length the relevant conservation laws
in that framework (Maugin, 1992; Maugin, 1993).
As a preliminary remark, we note that for a massive point
particle in 1D space, a point mechanics is dened by denite
relationships between four quantities: the velocity c, the linear
momentum p, the (kinetic) energy E and the mass m such that,
in Newtonian mechanics for an inertial motion:
d
p = 0,
dt

p = mc,

E=

p2
,
2m

(6.1)

where the rst is the equation of motion per se. This one remains
valid in standard (LorentzEinstein) relativistic physics while the
last two in (6.1) are replaced by the equations
p = m(c)c,

E 2 = p2 + m20 ;

(c) (1 c 2 )

1/2

m(c) = m0 (c),
(6.2)

where m0 is the rest mass (independent of c) and we have set the

limit velocity (usually the light velocity in vacuum) equal to one.
With this convention, we check that E = m0 at rest, the celebrated
Einstein equation of equivalence between mass and energy (usually
written with a conversion factor equal to the squared velocity of
light).
However, it is only our limited imagination and the present
knowledge of physics which constrain us to the two examples (6.1)
and (6.2). As we shall see, other point mechanics can be designed
(think of a rocket seen as a massive point consuming its fuel (mass)).
Now, to proceed with the present problem, the most relevant
conservation laws for our systems are the canonical conservation
equations of linear momentum and energy (symmetries related
to translational invariance with respect to the space-time parameterization (Maugin, 1993)). These are constructed easily locally,
and then they are integrated along the whole real line R (for 1D
motion). The specic analytic solutions of the soliton type found
for the various equations are then carried in these integral formulas, the evaluation of which yields the global equation of inertial
motion at constant energy in the form
d
P = 0,
dt

d
H = 0,
dt

(6.3)

where P and H are the global values obtained by integration along

the real line R. With some real luck we have then the expression

6.2. Sine-Gordon systems and their generalizations

For instance, for the sine-Gordon equation (2.1) with solutions
of the subsonic kink-like type
(x, t) = 4 tanh1 {exp[(x ct)]},

(6.4)

one obtains thus

P(c) = M0 c,

H 2 (c) = P 2 (c) + M02 ,

(6.5)

with  dened as in the last of (6.2) and M0 = 8 = H(0), so that the

quasi-particle associated wit the exactly integrable sine-Gordon
equation satises the LorentzianEinsteinian mechanics (6.2) of
point particles. This should not come as a surprise since Eq. (2.1)
itself is Lorentz invariant.
Now we easily imagine that terms added to (2.1) case of the socalled double sine-Gordon equation and of perturbed sine-Gordon
equations or any further coupling such as in the sine-Gordon
system that destroys the exact integrability, will drastically complicate the matter. Nonetheless, it must be realized that all quantities
considered in the canonical formulation of conservation involve a
summation over contributions of all degrees of freedom (cf. Maugin,
1993; Maugin and Christov, 2002). Accordingly, as already mentioned, system (3.1) is formally viewed as a system for two elastic
components (, u) and the corresponding P is dened canonically
as

P=

(ut ux + x t ) dx,

(6.6)

in which must be carried the found soliton-like solution for the

two functions. Since the true displacement component u is only
secondary and generated by the  one via magnetostriction, we
known before hand, without producing analytical results, that the
linear momentum of the quasi-particle associated with (3.1) has,
for small magnetostriction coupling the general perturbed form
P = PSG + G(M0 , cT ; c),

(6.7)

where PSG is the LorentzEinstein value for the pure sine-Gordon

equation. We obtain thus a point mechanics that deviates from
the LorentzianEinsteinian one.
6.3. Generalized Zakharov systems
Another example of the same deviation property from a known
classical point mechanics is given by the generalized Zakharov
model obtained in the surface wave problem of Section 5. Indeed,
a remarkable property of the pure NLS (cubic) equation is that its
associated quasi-particle point mechanics is none other than the
pure Newtonian one (6.1). Accordingly, for the GZ model and its
soliton-like solutions, the above procedure yields a general expression for P as
P = PNLS + F(M0 , cT ; c);

PNLS = M0 c,

(6.8)

in which the summation property over various degrees of freedom

in the canonical momentum has been exploited, and an exact analytical expression is known for F on account of the exact known
one-soliton solution to the GZ system for these see (Hadouaj
et al., 1991a). In the present surface-wave problem, the rest
mass M0 is physically interpreted as the total number of surface phonons. The relationship P(c) in (6.8) is not bi-univoque:
the point-mechanics is Newtonian for small cs, becomes Lorentzian

G.A. Maugin / Mechanics Research Communications 38 (2011) 341349

from below at a characteristic speed equal to one, is again Newtonian at very large speeds; but there exists in between a forbidden
window between value one and another characteristic speed.
Equations such as (6.7) and (6.8), established for inertial
motions, are useful in the perturbation of these motions by externally applied elds or additional effects, an applied electric eld of
magnetic eld in the rst case, the inuence of viscosity in the second case of interest, for which one deduces the non-zero value of
dP/dt. The acceleration of soliton solutions of the sine-Gordon equation was studied by this method by Pouget and Maugin (1985b)
also Sayadi and Pouget (1990). The dissipation (viscosity) induced
evolution of soliton-like solutions of the GZ system was studied by
Hadouaj et al. (1991a) exhibiting interesting drastic phenomena of
reconstruction (perestroika) in the course of propagation.
6.4. BoussinesqKdV systems
It remains to consider the case of the BoussinesqKdV paradigm
for which invariants of the motion were found quite early (Kruskal
and Zabusky, 1966) for the pure KdV case. In order to include all
cases mentioned in Section 4, we note that the total canonical
momentum in 1D should be dened by

P=

ux
R

L
dx,
ut

(6.9)

where L/ut is a functional (EulerLagrange) derivative of the relevant Lagrangian density. This allows one to account for strange
cases of inertia such as in Eqs. (4.3)(4.6). In the case of the KdV
systems that have only rst-order derivatives in time (cf. Eq. (4.7)),
the canonical denition of P is recovered by introducing a potential
u such that = u x and P reads (Maugin and Christov, 2002)

P=

u t u x dx =

1
2

v2 + dvxx

dx.

(6.10)

In the general case where (6.9) applies, while exact special solutions
of the soliton type can exist, it is not possible to establish analytical point-mechanics type relations between M, P and H. However,
the wavicle dynamics of Eq. (4.2) is dominated by its pseudoLorentzian (in fact anti-Lorentzian) character. The localized wave
solutions of such an equation have momenta and energies that
nally decrease with an increase in their speed and they eventually
decay to zero at the characteristic speed. It was possible to establish by best numerical tting a possible relationship between a xed
rest mass (for which the wave solution exists) and P. For instance
(Christov and Maugin, 1995b)
P = [M0 (1 c 2 )

13/8

]c,

(6.11)

for monotone sech4 -like shapes, and

2 3/2

P = [M0 (1 c )

]c,

(6.12)

for Kawahara solitons with oscillatory tails. It would have been

almost impossible to imagine such point mechanics before hand
(see the graphs for M, P, and H in Maugin (1999), p. 182).
7. Conclusions
The above given developments somewhat summarize most of
the works on solitons in elastic solids done in the 19702010
period, of which many by the author and co-workers. They essentially emphasize an evolution from the standard exactly integrable
partial differential equations and the corresponding exact soliton solutions obtained by the creators of soliton theory, to the
physically more realistic, but simultaneously more complex and
no longer exactly integrable systems considered here. All basic
equations exploited were based on rst principles. The physical

347

Fig. 5. A typical inhomogeneous 2D shape in the elastic-plate problem: Mexican hat with side depletions along the propagation direction x, and monotonous
decrease on both sides in the orthogonal y direction (after Porubov et al., 2004).

landscape thus is widely enlarged, not to speak of the strange point

mechanics that the quasi-particles associated with the found solutions enjoy. Nothing was said of experiments that are not in our
eld of expertise. Sufce it to record the experimental proof of
the existence of solitons in elastic polystyrene rods by the group
of Samsonov in St Petersburg (this is documented at length in
Samsonovs book (Samsonov, 2001), Chapter 4; see more particularly Samsonov et al. (1996)) and the evidence of the existence
of surface solitons by Nayanov (1986). Concerning applications, in
addition to the case of crystal structures and/or structural members, we note the recently emphasized applications to geophysical
situations (Ostrovsky and Johnson, 2001).
To conclude, a word on two-dimensional problems is in order.
It does not escape the reader that analytical difculties met in such
problems may be insuperable. That is why so-called inhomogeneous
waves only have often been considered. By this we mean waves that
are essentially propagating in a prescribed direction (propagation
space) but are not spatially uniform in a lateral direction (orthogonal space). The surface solitons illustrated in Fig. 5 belong in this
class (orthogonal space then is the depth in the substrate). This is
also the case of the 2D problems mentioned at point (v) at the end
of Section 4. A nice illustration of this is provided in Fig. 5 (from
Porubov et al., 2004)). Here, considering an elastic plate as a 2D
object and both longitudinal and shear deformations, we observe
inhomogeneous soliton-like solutions in the form of humps that
typically exhibit a Mexican-hat shape (also obtained in Porubov
and Maugin, 2009) in the propagation x-direction say at xed
lateral position y = 0 and monotonous decrease on both sides
orthogonally to that direction.
Acknowledgements
Most of the works and results reported above have been carried
out or obtained in a small number of places: Paris, St Petersburg, Nizhny-Novgorod, Tallinn, and Kharkov with the Laboratoire
de Modlisation en Mcanique, now integrated in the Institut Jean
Le Rond dAlembert, as the central pivoting point of these cooperations. The author thus expresses his immense debt to his
former and present co-workers over the last thirty years: B. Collet, J. Pouget, A. Miled, H. Hadouaj, B.A. Malomed, C.I. Christov, A.
Salupere, J. Engelbrecht, A.V. Porubov, A.S. Kovalev, M.M. Bogdan
and the late S. Cadet, A.M. Kosevich and A.I. Potapov.
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