Soliton and breather splitting on star graphs from tricrystal Josephson junctions

Abstract

We consider the interactions of traveling localized wave solutions with a vertex in a star graph domain that describes multiple Josephson junctions with a common/branch point (i.e., tricrystal junctions). The system is modeled by the sine-Gordon equation. The vertex is represented by boundary conditions that are determined by the continuity of the magnetic field and vanishing total fluxes. When one considers small-amplitude breather solutions, the system can be reduced into the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation posed on a star graph. Using the equation, we show that a high-velocity incoming soliton is split into a transmitted component and a reflected one. The transmission is shown to be in good agreement with the transmission rate of plane waves in the linear Schr\"odinger equation on the same graph (i.e., a quantum graph). In the context of the sine-Gordon equation, small-amplitude breathers show similar qualitative behaviors, while large-amplitude ones produce complex dynamics.