TY - JOUR T1 - The KdV hierarchy: universality and a Painleve transcendent JF - International Mathematics Research Notices, vol. 22 (2012) , page 5063-5099 Y1 - 2012 A1 - Tom Claeys A1 - Tamara Grava KW - Small-Dispersion limit AB - We study the Cauchy problem for the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) hierarchy in the small dispersion limit where $\e\to 0$. For negative analytic initial data with a single negative hump, we prove that for small times, the solution is approximated by the solution to the hyperbolic transport equation which corresponds to $\e=0$. Near the time of gradient catastrophe for the transport equation, we show that the solution to the KdV hierarchy is approximated by a particular Painlev\'e transcendent. This supports Dubrovins universality conjecture concerning the critical behavior of Hamiltonian perturbations of hyperbolic equations. We use the Riemann-Hilbert approach to prove our results. PB - Oxford University Press UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1963/6921 N1 - This article was published in "International Mathematics Research Notices, vol. 22 (2012) , page 5063-5099 U1 - 6902 U2 - Mathematics U4 - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Painlevé II asymptotics near the leading edge of the oscillatory zone for the Korteweg-de Vries equation in the small-dispersion limit JF - Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 63 (2010) 203-232 Y1 - 2010 A1 - Tom Claeys A1 - Tamara Grava AB - In the small dispersion limit, solutions to the Korteweg-de Vries equation develop an interval of fast oscillations after a certain time. We obtain a universal asymptotic expansion for the Korteweg-de Vries solution near the leading edge of the oscillatory zone up to second order corrections. This expansion involves the Hastings-McLeod solution of the Painlev\\\\\\\'e II equation. We prove our results using the Riemann-Hilbert approach. PB - Wiley UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1963/3799 U1 - 527 U2 - Mathematics U3 - Mathematical Physics ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Solitonic asymptotics for the Korteweg-de Vries equation in the small dispersion limit JF - SIAM J. Math. Anal. 42 (2010) 2132-2154 Y1 - 2010 A1 - Tamara Grava A1 - Tom Claeys AB - We study the small dispersion limit for the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation $u_t+6uu_x+\\\\epsilon^{2}u_{xxx}=0$ in a critical scaling regime where $x$ approaches the trailing edge of the region where the KdV solution shows oscillatory behavior. Using the Riemann-Hilbert approach, we obtain an asymptotic expansion for the KdV solution in a double scaling limit, which shows that the oscillations degenerate to sharp pulses near the trailing edge. Locally those pulses resemble soliton solutions of the KdV equation. UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1963/3839 U1 - 488 U2 - Mathematics U3 - Mathematical Physics ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Universality of the break-up profile for the KdV equation in the small dispersion limit using the Riemann-Hilbert approach JF - Comm. Math. Phys. 286 (2009) 979-1009 Y1 - 2009 A1 - Tamara Grava A1 - Tom Claeys AB - We obtain an asymptotic expansion for the solution of the Cauchy problem for the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation in the small dispersion limit near the point of gradient catastrophe (x_c,t_c) for the solution of the dispersionless equation.\\nThe sub-leading term in this expansion is described by the smooth solution of a fourth order ODE, which is a higher order analogue to the Painleve I equation. This is in accordance with a conjecture of Dubrovin, suggesting that this is a universal phenomenon for any Hamiltonian perturbation of a hyperbolic equation. Using the Deift/Zhou steepest descent method applied on the Riemann-Hilbert problem for the KdV equation, we are able to prove the asymptotic expansion rigorously in a double scaling limit. UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1963/2636 U1 - 1487 U2 - Mathematics U3 - Mathematical Physics ER -