Localized States in Physics: Solitons and Patterns

Systems driven far from thermodynamic equilibrium can create dissipative structures through the spontaneous breaking of symmetries. A particularlyfascinating feature of these pattern-forming systems is their tendency toproduce spatially confined states. These localized wave packets can exist as propagating entities through space and/or time. Various examples of suchsystems will be dealt with in this book, including localized states in fluids, chemical reactions on surfaces, neural networks, optical systems, granular systems, population models, and Bose-Einstein condensates. This book should appeal to all physicists, mathematicians and electrical engineers interested in localization in far-from-equilibrium systems. The authors - all recognized experts in their fields -strive to achieve a balance between theoretical and experimental considerations thereby givingan overview offascinating physical principles, their manifestations in diverse systems, and the noveltechnical applications on the horizon.