Solitons in physics, mathematics and nonlinear optics. The IMA volumes in mathematics and its applications; Vol. 25.

This volume includes some of the letters given at two workshops, "Solitons in Physics and Mathematics" and "Solitons in Nonlinear Optics and Plasma Physics", held during 1988 and 1989. Since their discovery by Kruskal and Zabusky in the early 1960s, solitons have had a profound impact on many fields, ranging from engineering and physics to algebraic geometry. The present contributions represent only a fraction of these areas, but give the reader a good overview of several research directions, including optics, fluid dynamics, inverse scattering, cellular automata, Backlund equations, symmetries and Hamiltonian systems.