Solitons in Two-Dimensional Shallow Water

Book excerpt: Web-like waves, often observed on the surface of shallow water, are examples of nonlinear waves. They are generated by nonlinear interactions among several obliquely propagating solitary waves, also known as solitons. In this book, modern mathematical tools?algebraic geometry, algebraic combinatorics, and representation theory, among others?are used to analyze these two-dimensional wave patterns. The author?s primary goal is to explain some details of the classification problem of the soliton solutions of the KP equation (or KP solitons) and their applications to shallow water waves. This book is intended for researchers and graduate students.