Paper detail

Back-reaction of perturbation wave packets on gray solitons

Within the Bogoliubov-de Gennes linearization theory of quantum or classical perturbations around a background solution to the one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation, we study the back-reaction of wave packet perturbations on a gray soliton background. From our recently published exact solutions, we determine that a wave packet effectively jumps ahead as it passes through a soliton, emerging with a wavelength-dependent forward translation in comparison to its motion in absence of the soliton. From this and from the full theory's exact momentum conservation, we deduce that post-Bogoliubov back-reaction must include a commensurate forward advance by the soliton itself. We quantify this effect with a simple theory, and confirm that it agrees with full numerical solution of the classical nonlinear Schrödinger equation. We briefly discuss the implications of this effect for quantum behavior of solitons in quasi-condensed dilute gases at finite temperature.