Solitons are solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations. In many cases the nonlinearity is "local", meaning that the nonlinear part of the equation is only a function of the relevant field in a specific point of the coordinates.
If, in the nonlinear part, fields at different points are involved, the nonlinearity is "nonlocal".
One could think that, roughly speaking, a nonlocal nonlinearity is "more nonlinear" than a local one, as it combines, in a complicated way, fields at different positions, instead, e.g., of being a simple power of the field in a single point.
In this respect, it looks really un-expected and, a bit, disorienting, the fact that when one considers a "strongly nonlocal model", the relevant solitons are described by a sort of linear equation.
For these reasons, the word "linearons" was used by C. Conti, M. Schmidt, P.St.J.Russell and F. Biancalana, to dub a specific class of highly-nonlocal (highly non-instantaneous, indeed) solitary waves in a novel kind of photonic device: a photonic crystal fiber filled by a strongly nonlinear re-orientational liquid.
The LINEARONS have remarkable and un-expected properties and applications, many to be investigated, and the quest for their observation in experiments is just started...
Details in arXiv:1010.0331 (http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v105/i26/e263902)
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