DO SURFACE ACOUSTIC SOLITONS EXIST

Nonlinear Rayleigh waves are considered that propagate along the surfa ce of a homogeneous solid medium covered by a thin film. Their dynamic s is described by an evolution equation containing dispersion of the B enjamin-Ono type and a nonlocal nonlinearity. Periodic nonlinear wave solutions are found which become solitary waves in the limit of infini te periodicity. It is shown that these solitary solutions are stable, but unlike the Korteweg-de Vries solitons, they do not survive collisi ons with each other and therefore are no real solitons.