Classification of Solitary Wave Bifurcations in Generalized Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations

Bifurcations of solitary waves are classified for the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equations with arbitrary nonlinearities and external potentials in arbitrary spatial dimensions. Analytical conditions are derived for three major types of solitary wave bifurcations, namely, saddle‐node, pitchfork, and transcritical bifurcations. Shapes of power diagrams near these bifurcations are also obtained. It is shown that for pitchfork and transcritical bifurcations, their power diagrams look differently from their familiar solution‐bifurcation diagrams. Numerical examples for these three types of bifurcations are given as well. Of these numerical examples, one shows a transcritical bifurcation, which is the first report of transcritical bifurcations in the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equations. Another shows a power loop phenomenon which contains several saddle‐node bifurcations, and a third example shows double pitchfork bifurcations. These numerical examples are in good agreement with the analytical results.