Self-similar shock wave solutions of the non-linear Maxwell equations

Abstract

In our study we consider nonlinear, power-law field-dependent electrical permitivity and magnetic permeability and investigate the time-dependent Maxwell equations with the self-similar Ansatz. This is a first-order hyperbolic PDE system which can conserve non-continuous initial conditions describing electromagnetic shock-waves. Besides shock-waves other interesting solutions (e.g. with localized compact support) can be found with delicate physical properties. Such phenomena may happen in complex materials induced by the planned powerful Extreme Light Infrastructure(ELI) laser pulses.