Localized structures on librational and rotational travelling waves in the sine-Gordon equation

Abstract

We derive exact solutions to the sine--Gordon equation describing localized structures on the background of librational and rotational travelling waves. In the case of librational waves, the exact solution represents a localized spike in space-time coordinates (a rogue wave) which decays to the periodic background algebraically fast. In the case of rotational waves, the exact solution represents a kink propagating on the periodic background and decaying algebraically in the transverse direction to its propagation. These solutions model the universal patterns in the dynamics of fluxon condensates in the semi-classical limit. The different dynamics is related to different outcomes of modulational stability of the librational and rotational waves.