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We report results of the analysis of the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) in the basic (actually, simplest) model which is capable to produce the SSB phenomenology in the one-dimensional setting. It is based on the Gross-Pitaevskii -nonlinear Schrödinger equation with the cubic selfattractive term and a double-well-potential built as an infinitely deep potential box split by a narrow (delta-functional) barrier. The barrier's strength, ε, is the single free parameter of the scaled form of the model. It may be implemented in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates and nonlinear optics. The SSB bifurcation of the symmetric ground state (GS) is predicted analytically in two limit cases, viz, for deep or weak splitting of the potential box by the barrier (ε ≫ 1 or ε ≪ 1, respectively). For the generic case, a variational approximation (VA) is elaborated. The analytical findings are presented along with systematic numerical results. Stability of stationary states is studied through the calculation of eigenvalues for small perturbations, and by means of direct simulations. The GS always undergoes the SSB bifurcation of the supercritical type, as predicted by the VA at moderate values of ε, although the VA fails at small ε, due to inapplicability of the underlying ansatz in that case. However, the latter case is correctly treated by the approximation based on a soliton ansatz. On top of the GS, the first and second excited states are studied too. The antisymmetric mode (the first excited state) is destabilized at a critical value of its norm. The second excited state undergoes the SSB bifurcation, like the GS, but, unlike it, the bifurcation produces an unstable asymmetric mode. All unstable modes tend to spontaneously reshape into the asymmetric GS.

This article provides a focused review of recent findings which demonstrate, in some cases quite counter-intuitively, the existence of bound states with a singularity of the density pattern at the center; the states are physically meaningful because their total norm converges. One model of this type is based on the 2D Gross–Pitaevskii equation (GPE), which combines the attractive potential ∼ r − 2 and the quartic self-repulsive nonlinearity, induced by the Lee–Huang–Yang effect (quantum fluctuations around the mean-field state). The GPE demonstrates suppression of the 2D quantum collapse, driven by the attractive potential, and emergence of a stable ground state (GS), whose density features an integrable singularity ∼ r − 4 / 3 at r → 0 . Modes with embedded angular momentum exist too, but they are unstable. A counter-intuitive peculiarity of the model is that the GS exists even if the sign of the potential is reversed from attraction to repulsion, provided that its strength is small enough. This peculiarity finds a relevant explanation. The other model outlined in the review includes 1D, 2D, and 3D GPEs, with the septimal (seventh-order), quintic, and cubic self-repulsive terms, respectively. These equations give rise to stable singular solitons, which represent the GS for each dimension D, with the density singularity ∼ r − 2 / ( 4 − D ) . Such states may be considered the results of screening a “bare” delta-functional attractive potential by the respective nonlinearities.

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We consider the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation on a ring, with the cubic term, of either self-attractive or repulsive sign, confined to a narrow segment. This setting can be realized in optics and Bose-Einstein condensates. For the nonlinearity coefficient represented by the delta-function, all stationary states are obtained in an exact analytical form. The states with positive chemical potentials are found in alternating bands for the cases of the self-repulsion and attraction, while solutions with negative chemical potentials exist only in the latter case. These results provide a possibility to obtain exact solutions for bandgap states in the nonlinear system. Approximating the delta-function by a narrow Gaussian, stability of the stationary modes is addressed through numerical computation of eigenvalues for small perturbations, and verified by simulations of the perturbed evolution. For positive chemical potentials, the stability is investigated in three lowest bands. In the case of the self-attraction, each band contains a stable subband, the transition to instability occurring with the increase of the total norm. As a result, multi-peak states may be stable in higher bands. In the case of the self-repulsion, a single-peak ground state is stable in the first band, while the two higher ones are populated by weakly unstable two-and four-peak excited states. In the case of the self-attraction and negative chemical potentials, single-peak modes feature instability which transforms them into persistently oscillating states.