Pattern dynamics and spatiotemporal chaos in the quantum Zakharov equations

The dynamical behavior of the nonlinear interaction of quantum Langmuir waves (QLWs) and quantum ion-acoustic waves (QIAWs) is studied in the one-dimensional quantum Zakharov equations. Numerical simulations of coupled QLWs and QIAWs reveal that many coherent solitary patterns can be excited and saturated via the modulational instability of unstable harmonic modes excited by a modulation wave number of monoenergetic QLWs. The evolution of such solitary patterns may undergo the states of spatially partial coherence (SPC), coexistence of temporal chaos and spatiotemporal chaos (STC), as well as STC. The SPC state is essentially due to ion-acoustic wave emission and due to quantum diffraction, while the STC is caused by the combined effects of SPC and quantum diffraction, as well as by collisions and fusions among patterns in stochastic motion. The energy in the system is strongly redistributed, which may switch on the onset of weak turbulence in dense quantum plasmas.