An analytical proof for the stability of Heimburg-Jackson pulses

Abstract

This paper studies analytically the stability of solitary waves in a generalized Boussinesq equation with quadratic-cubic nonlinearity. For general values of two parameters a and b determining the system, unstable waves may occur. If however, as in a situation for which this Boussinesq equation was recently proposed as a model for pulse propagation in nerves, (a,b) belongs to a certain natural regime, then all possible waves are stable.