Solution to the "cubic" Helmholtz equation

275 Views Asked by At

What is known about the solutions of the differential equation in three-dimensions

$$ \nabla^2 \phi = -\kappa^2 (\phi + (1/3!)\phi^3) $$

Without the cubic term, this gives a linear operator $\mathcal{L} = \nabla^2 + \kappa^2$. In this case I can get a solution via the Green's function $G=\exp{(i\kappa r)}(4\pi r)^{-1}$. In my equation however, the presence of $\phi^3$ does not give me a linear operator. Is anything known about the solution to this equation?

Context: The Poisson-Boltzmann equation can be put into the functional form of $\nabla^2 \phi = -\kappa^2 \sinh \phi$. Expanding sinh to first order gives the Helmholtz equation as mentioned above. The second order term is zero and the third order term gives the equation in question.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On BEST ANSWER

This paper discusses your problem below Eq. 8 and provides the solution in Eq. 9 and 10 for a single plate and Eq. 11 and 12 for two plates.