Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 March 2009
Two spherically symmetric versions of a self-similar collapse are investigated within the framework of the Zakharov equations, namely, one relative to a vectorial electric field and the other corresponding to a scalar modeling of the Langmuir field. Singular solutions of both of them depend on a linear time contraction rate Ξ(t) = V(t* – t), where t* and V = – Ξ denote, respectively, the collapse time and the constant collapse velocity. We show that under certain conditions, only the scalar model admits self-similar solutions, varying regularly as a function of the control parameter V from the subsonic (V ≪ 1) to the supersonic (V ≫ 1) regime.