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KELVIN LECTURE SOLITONS A NEW PARADIGM IN MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS

Michael Atiyah (Edinburgh)

2 Kelvin (Glasgow) Mathematical Physicist Inventor Engineer Businessman

3 James Clerk Maxwell Mathematical Physicist Founded Electro-Magnetic Theory 175th birthday

4 John Scott Russell (1834)

I was observing the motion of a boat which was rapidly drawn along a narrow channel by a pair of horses, when the boat suddenly stopped - not so the mass of water in the channel which it had put in motion; it accumulated round the prow of the vessel in a state of violent agitation, then suddenly leaving it behind, rolled forward with great velocity, assuming the form of a large solitary elevation, a rounded, smooth and well-dened heap of water, which continued its course along the channel apparently without change of form or diminution of speed. . . .

5 I followed it on horseback, and overtook it still rolling on at a rate of some eight or nine miles an hour, preserving its original gure some thirty feet long and a foot to a foot and a half in height. Its height gradually diminished, and after a chase of one or two miles I lost it in the windings of the channel. Such, in the month of August 1834, was my rst chance interview with that singular and beautiful phenomenon which I have called the Wave of Translation.

6 KdV equation (1895)

u

ut + uxxx + uux = 0 Solution moves constant velocity .

7 Multi-soliton solutions (1965 )

Emerge unaltered (phase-shift) after collision Beautiful mathematical theory n solitons velocities 1 , 2 , . . . , n coincide with modes (frequencies) of d2 + u(x) dx 2 u(x) = u(x, 0)

8 Key Features of KdV Non-linear Has localized solutions (solitons) Solitons preserve identity after collision Equation completely soluble Mysterious relation to linear equation (velocities modes)

9 Many other equations with solitons Non-linear Schrdinger equation (optic bres) o iut + uxx + |u|2 u = 0 u complex

Sine-Gordon equation xx tt = m2 sin (particle physics)

Soliton equations arise from more fundamental physical equations by suitable approximations (Navier-Stokes, Maxwell, . . . )

10 3-dimensional solitons

Skyrmions (model of nucleus) (1961) Magnetic monopoles (t Hooft - Polyakov) (1974) Localized solutions of non-linear equations Number of particles is topological

11 Sine-Gordon Equation xx tt = m2 sin Finite-Energy =

sin 0 as x n as x n+ as x

n+ n = N is the topological winding number ()

12 Skyrmions

Skyrme eld 4 functions f1 , f2 , f3 , f4 of position (x1 , x2 , x3 ) and time t constrained by (f1 )2 + (f2 )2 + (f3 )2 + (f4 )2 = 1 Finite Energy = f constant vector as |x| (xed t) Topological 3-dimensional winding number (degree) N () particle (proton/neutron) number Equations not explicitly soluble

13 Monopole equations soluble (beautiful theory) Skyrme equations have qualitative similarities Static solutions (minimal energy congurations) exist 1 particle solution spherically symmetric (billiard balls) 2 particle solution toroidal 90o scattering on collision